“A little dog.”
“I don’t much care for dogs,” said Rhoda. “Mrs Vane is the one for pets; that is, whenever they are modish. She carries dormice in her pocket, and keeps a lapdog and a squirrel. When the mode goes out, she gives the thing away, and gets something newer.”
“Oh, dear!” said Phoebe. “I could never give my friends away.”
“Oh, it is not always to friends,” said Rhoda, misunderstanding her. “She gave one of her cats to a tailor at Tewkesbury.”
“But the creatures are your friends,” said Phoebe. “How can you bear to give them away?”
“Cats, and dogs, and squirrels—friends!” answered Rhoda, laughing. “Why, Phoebe, what a droll creature you are!”
“They would be my friends,” responded Phoebe.
“I vow, I’d like to see you make a friend of Mrs Vane’s Cupid!” exclaimed Rhoda, laughing. “He is the most spiteful little brute I ever set eyes on. He thinks his teeth were made to bite everybody, and his tail wasn’t made to wag.”
“Poor little thing! I don’t wonder, if he has a mistress who would give him away because it was not the mode to keep him.”
“I never saw a maid so droll!” said Rhoda, still laughing; “’twill never serve to be so mighty nice, that I can tell you. Why, you talk as if those creatures had feelings, like we have!”