Sally was almost asleep, but Daphne heard the knock. She jumped up, switched on the lights, and woke Sally.
“The Twins’s reply,” she announced as she opened the note.
“Read it quick,” Sally said sleepily.
“The Story of the Two Dogs, continued (she read).
And so the two little dogs went home to die. But just as they were about to draw their last breath, the nice old gentleman met the nice old lady, and they told each other about the dogs they had met on their walk, and about how foolish they had been.
‘But Aunt Jane’s Poll-parrot, this can’t go on,’ said the old gentleman.
‘It would be silly to let it, wouldn’t it?’ drawled the nice old lady.
‘We will go and tell them how foolish they are,’ they said together.
So they went, and the two dogs were very glad to see them, and when they learned that there was two bones, they jumped up and barked, and they each promised to eat one apiece, and never again to be so silly; because they realized that if they ate enough bones they would grow strong, and perhaps some day they would be a credit to the wing, it was a very old wing, of the dog kennel where they lived.”
“The satisfying thing about the Twins is that they always do what’s expected of them,” Daphne commented as she folded the note up. “The beginning of the Two Dogs was brilliant enough but the end—”
“The end is a masterpiece,” Sally replied, now wide awake.
“Aunt Jane’s Poll-parrot marked you as the old gentleman.”
“Well, how about ‘drawled the nice old lady’?”
“Oh, it was a masterpiece all right, and I loved the touch about the wing.” Daphne went back to her own bed.