The dog stopped wagging its tail and looked up at its master earnestly.
“How do I look?” again said Tallydab. “I declare, I wish you could talk!”
“You look perfectly ridiculous,” replied the dog, in a rather harsh voice.
The lord high steward jumped nearly three feet in the air, so startled was he by Ruffles’s reply. Then he bent down, a hand on each knee, and regarded the dog curiously.
“I thought, at first, you had spoken!” said he.
“What caused you to change your mind?” asked Ruffles, peevishly. “I did speak—I am speaking. Can’t you believe it?”
The lord high steward drew a deep sigh of conviction.
“‘YOU LOOK PERFECTLY RIDICULOUS!’ REPLIED THE DOG.”
“I believe it!” he made answer. “I have always declared you were a wonderful dog, and now you prove I am right. Why, you are the only dog I ever heard of who could talk!”