We got very near to each other in those days, and Miss Stanna, or rather Mrs. Bonstone, meeting me in the street one morning, stooped down and patted me, saying, “You are a dear Boy-Dog; I don’t know what poor Rudolph would do without you.”
This pleased me immensely, and I stuck to my dear master closer than ever. Some of his friends were losing money by the war, but his business had improved, and the more money he made, the more he gave away.
Many a poor man blessed him for the help he rendered. The unemployment was dreadful, and the ones master helped were just the ones that the agencies for poor men did not touch. One night he kept a poor fellow from drowning himself in the Hudson. Master argued with him for an hour, and finally brought him home and had him sleep in his own bed. The poor lad was a gentleman and a foreigner, and was too proud to let his people know the plight he was in.
Some nights we cut across the city to Ellen’s avenue. It did us both good to go there. That Ellen was the dearest old soul I ever saw, and I loved to talk to Beanie now. I never saw such a changed dog. We used to tramp up the six flights of stairs to her flat, and when Beanie felt that we were coming, he would fly out of Ellen’s soft lap, and stand whining at the door, so we always found them waiting for us.
[Beanie was quite handsome now]. He had lost much of his flesh, and had quite a slender dog figure. Some one had told Ellen how valuable he was, and she was just eaten up with pride to think that she had such a well-bred dog.
BEANIE WAS QUITE HANDSOME NOW
There were a good many coloured people on the avenue, and they all petted Beanie, but instead of getting more stuck-up and proud, he had become quite a humble dog.
He used to talk to me by the hour, and tell me how kind Ellen and Robert Lee were to him. While master was talking to old Ellen, and despite himself, letting her know what some of his troubles were, Beanie would ask me questions about his dear mistress.
On this particular evening he had been talking as he often did about her accident.