“Come, my children!” said he. (He often called us his children.) “This afternoon we go to the theatre to practise, and we will see whether you can be as perfect there as here. Then tonight we will act in the show, and everybody will look and laugh and wonder at you.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but he looked so kind and smiling I thought he must mean play. I guess the other dogs did, too, because we all began to bark and jump about him.
I did like Mr. Bonelli, but I didn’t love him the way I loved Tommy. I never could love anyone else the way I had loved Tommy.
Mrs. Bonelli came up from downstairs carrying in her arms the things we wore, and she and Mr. Bonelli dressed us. After that Mr. Bonelli put collars on our necks and fastened straps to them, and he and the men took hold of the straps and led us out of the house and into the wide, sunny street. How big and bright it seemed! I hadn’t been in the street for a long time.
We trotted along, the men leading some of us and Mr. Bonelli leading some, and everybody turned to stare at us and smiled, and a crowd of children followed after us, talking and calling. Some of them wanted to pat us, but Mr. Bonelli wouldn’t let them.
After a while we came to the theatre. I had never been in a theatre before, and I didn’t know what the name meant at first, but I learned afterward. It is a great big place where crowds of people come to see dogs act. There is always a stage in a theatre, and bright lights. There are queer places back of the stage, and men hurry about and drag things round.
I was scared when I first saw it all and I stayed close to Mr. Bonelli’s legs and kept looking up at him, but the other dogs were used to it, they had been there before so many times. They sniffed about, and some of the men stopped and patted them.
Mr. Bonelli led us out on the stage, and then some men came with our chairs and set them in a row.
“Now, my children!” said Mr. Bonelli.
He pointed to the chairs and flicked his little whip, and we ran and got up in our places, only I forgot and sat down with my head turned toward him and my tail toward the back of the chair just the way the other dogs were sitting.