"Open the parlor door?" questioned the Lay Reader. It was no mere grammatical form of speech but a real query in the Lay Reader's mind.
"Well, maybe I'd better," conceded Flame. "Lead me to it."
Roused into frenzy by the sound of a stranger's step, a stranger's voice, the four dogs fumed and seethed on the other side of the panel.
"Sniff—Sniff—Snort!" the Red Setter sucked at the crack in the door.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!" roared the big Wolf Hound.
"Slam! Bang! Slash!" slapped the Dalmatian's crisp weight.
"Yi! Yi! Yi!" sang the Bull Dog.
"Hush! Hush, Dogs!" implored Flame. "This is Father's Lay Reader!"
"Your—Lay Reader!" contradicted the young man gallantly. It was pretty gallant of him, wasn't it? Considering everything?
In another instant four shapes with teeth in them came hurtling through!