When Terrence Bull Pup received Billy Whiskers’ letter he was of two minds, both pleased and mad.
At first he was inclined to accept Billy’s words of friendship and flattery as the true expressions of his warm heart, and write him a reply with a cordial invitation to come to Springfield at once, stay for a few days and be his guest at the Circus.
On reading the letter a second time, it occurred to him that Billy Whiskers might be trying to make use of him and that all his soft remarks about true friendship and his good looks were just so much bait with which to catch what he wanted.
He remembered that in the old days Billy Whiskers was in the habit of thus working his friends, and he also recalled the fact that his last letter, in which he had suggested joining Billy in his new home at Cloverleaf Farm, had never been answered, a neglect on the part of Billy that cut deep and rankled whenever he thought of it.
More than that, Terrence did not like and had no sympathy with this talk about turning over a new leaf. Terrence Bull Pup knew well that HE had turned over no new leaves. In fact, if the truth must be told, he was now known all up and down Maiden Lane, the street on which he lived, as “the terror.”
“No,” he said, after looking at the matter from all sides, “I’ll not be taken in by sly old Billy this time. If he imagines he can fool me by his flattery and true friendship dodge he’ll find himself greatly mistaken. Anyhow, his letter gives me a chance to give him a piece of my mind straight, and I’ll just do it, too.”
So he wrote as follows:
Springfield, June 12th, 1908.
Dear Bill:
Your letter just received. I can’t say that I was very pleased to get it. If you had answered my last letter I might feel different.