I met with no more adventures or difficulties. Even my night's lodging gave me no trouble; for when it was growing dark, and I felt too tired to run any farther, I espied a heap of straw thrown out by the stable-door of a roadside inn, and I soon scratched and smoothed it into as comfortable a bed as dog need wish. By break of day I was on my travels again; and being now near my native village, in a road of which I knew every step, I had no further perplexity, and by breakfast-time arrived at my old home.
It had never occurred to me that any body would be surprised to see me. Having always met with a hearty welcome, I expected one as a matter of course; but I certainly never anticipated being received with a shout of astonishment, and to this day I cannot understand why they were all so amazed. But so it was. When the gardener opened the gate and saw me sitting outside, he started as if I had been a strange dog going to fly at him; and instead of speaking to me, began calling as loud as he could to his wife:
"Peggy! why, Peggy, make haste, I say. Here's the dog! How did he ever come here?"
The old lady came bustling along at double her usual speed, and I thought she would immediately explain my appearance; but she seemed even more surprised than her husband; she fairly screamed.
"Well to be sure!" exclaimed she as usual, as soon as she had recovered her breath; "well to be sure! Did any body ever see such a thing? How can he have come? Do you think master is on the road?"
"I'll run down to the turnpike and see," answered her husband; and off he set, without bestowing a word upon me; his wife meanwhile, with her apron thrown over her head, straining her eyes to look after him. I wagged my tail, and patted her with my paw, and did my best to make her understand that I was there on my own account; but her head was too full of fancies to attend to the reality, and she persisted in looking out for my master who was not coming, and neglecting me who was there under her eyes. So I left her to find out the state of the case as she could, and turned my steps towards the house, where I hoped to meet a friend, who would think nothing so natural as my being at her side.
I peeped in at the kitchen window, and there sat my Pussy, in her old place before the fire, looking just as when I left her—the neatest, whitest, softest, and gentlest of creatures. She was not surprised to see me. She winked and blinked a little, as if she was dreaming of me at that moment, and was afraid to open her eyes more than half-way, lest the dream should vanish; but at last she opened them altogether, and the dream turned to reality. Then, had we not a happy meeting!
There was much to tell on both sides before we could properly discuss the grand object of my coming, and our time was a good deal taken up by a constant succession of visitors; not dogs or cats, as might have been expected, but boys and girls, men and women, friends of the servants, all pouring in to see me. From the time that the gardener and his wife had satisfied themselves that my master was not coming with me, they seemed to consider my arrival stranger than ever, and to think it necessary to inform every body of the circumstances,—though I should certainly have supposed there would be more wonder in seeing two persons than one. Pussy did not approve of so much company, as she always disliked to be stared at; I, being of a less retiring turn of mind, was perhaps rather flattered by the notice; but, by the time evening came, even I was glad to have the house quiet. Then we lay by the fire, and explained all our feelings to each other.
I described to my friend how unhappy I had been without her, and how amidst all the pleasures of London I had languished for her company, till I could bear my loneliness no longer; and I entreated her, for my sake, to relinquish all her present habits, and to try a new life and a new home.
She heard me with much sympathy, and owned that she too had been unhappy; and that, notwithstanding the placid exterior which she had thought it right to keep up, she had missed me quite as much as I missed her. But she did not at once, as I hoped, agree eagerly to my proposal of accompanying me to London. She hesitated. The journey seemed an arduous undertaking. What strange dogs she might meet! what showers of rain! what obstacles of all kinds, that had never suggested themselves to me!