"I intend to try it, to pay for his kindness to Flora."
"How would it do to plaster him all over with beef steak?" queried Charley.
"That is my plan," said Bertie. "What do you think of it, my dog?"
He thought it the best piece of news he had ever heard, and he left his warm, corner to thank Bertie in his dumb but eloquent way. He looked up into Bertie's face and wagged his tail, and said as plainly as a dog could say, that he was grateful. Mamma exchanged the blue dress for a flannel wrapper. It never could be called pretty again. Then she brushed out the wet curls and chafed the rosy feet with her own warm hands. Under such treatment, Flora began to revive.
"Going to be a good girl," she said, gratefully.
"And mind mamma?"
"I will. Never open the big gate again."
"Did you open it?"
"I did. Flora is hungry."
How happy she was, sitting on papa's knee with a bowl of bread and milk in her lap!