She lay some minutes quietly thinking, till she sat up again in bed coughing. When the cough had passed, she called in a low voice:
"Miss Mary! Miss Mary!"
There was no answer.
"She is sleeping," whispered Cara, and after a while she looked around, and, in a lower voice, called:
"Puffie! Puffie!"
At this call the little dog sprang from a neighboring chair, and in the twinkle of an eye was on the bed.
Cara stroked the silken coat of the dog, and bending toward him whispered:
"Puffie! Puffie! dear, little dog! lie here, sleep for thyself!"
She put him on her breast almost at her chin; with her hand on his coat, and with the whisper: "Puffie! good Puffie!" she fell asleep.
Then was heard the sound of a drozhky, coming quickly, with uproar in front of the house, and again there was an end to voices and movement. Two men ascended the stairway, one much older than the other, with a carefully brushed, but somewhat worn hat, in a fashionable but somewhat worn fur. He spoke in a low voice: