"Look at him, Mother Lemon," said Gabriel, rather sadly. "Saw you ever one so handsome?"
"Looks are deceiving," returned the old woman, "and I have a cat."
"I will see that he does not hurt your cat. I have to confess that I spent your penny for him, Mother Lemon."
"Then I have to confess that you are no worthy son of your father," returned the old woman, "for he would not have spent it for anything."
"I know it was a keepsake," replied Gabriel, "but the dog was in danger of his life and I had no other money to give for him."
"You are a good-hearted lad," said Mother Lemon, going on with her spinning. "Now take your dog away, for if my cat, Tommy, should see him it might go hard with his golden locks."
"Alas, Mother Lemon, I have come to ask you to keep him for me."
"La, la! I tell you I could not keep him any longer than until Tommy laid eyes on him; neither have I any liking for dogs, myself, though that one, I must say, looks as if he had taken a bath in molten gold."
"Does he not!" returned Gabriel. "When first I saw him some boys were misusing him and he seemed to be but a brown cur with a dingy, matted coat; and I could wish that he had turned out to be of no account, for the look in his eyes took hold upon my heart; but I rubbed him well in the brook, and now see the full, feathery tail and silky ears. He is a dog of high degree."
"Certain he is, lad," replied the old woman. "Take him to the town and sell him to some lofty dame who has nothing better to do than brush his curls."