The E. L. (impressed). For bluebottles?
Mr. Stip. For—ah—rats. (By way of concession.) Or bluebottles, of course, if you prefer it.
The E. L. I think I would rather have something more characteristic. He has such a pretty way of lying on his back with all his paws sticking straight up in the air. I never saw any other dog do it.
Mr. Stip. Precisely. But I doubt whether that particulah pose would be effective—in a photograph.
The E. L. You think not? Where has he got to, now? Oh, do just look at him going round, examining everything! He quite understands what he's wanted to do; you've no idea what a clever dog he is!
Mr. Stip. Ray-ally? How would it do to have him on a rock in the middle of a salmon stream?
The E. L. It would make me so uncomfortable to see it; he has a perfect horror of wetting his little feet!
Mr. Stip. In that case, no doubt—— Then what do you say to posing him on an ornamental pedestal? We could introduce a Yorkshire moor, or a view of Canterbury Cathedral, as a background.
The E. L. A pedestal seems so suggestive of a cemetery, doesn't it?
Mr. Stip. Then we must try some other position. (He resigns himself to the commonplace.) Can the dog—ah—sit up?