AUNT TOTTY’S PETS.—TIGER.
The next of her pets that Aunt Totty told us about was a dog called “Tiger.” This was what she told us.
“Tiger,” said Aunt Totty, “flourished about the same time as Moko, the monkey I described to you the other day. He was a very big dog, something between a Newfoundland and a Mount St. Bernard. He belonged to my old nurse and foster-mother, who lived on a little farm not very far from Marseilles. Her husband, who was now a farmer, had once been a soldier, and was a brave and worthy man.
“Once, after I had had the measles, I was sent for change of air to stay a week or two with my old nurse. The chateau, where we then lived, was not many leagues away; still for some reason the change of air was considered necessary for my complete cure. How I enjoyed the visit I can scarcely tell you. I had everything entirely my own way, and of course had a holiday from all lessons. From the moment I entered the house, Tiger adopted me as his playfellow and friend. I loved him dearly, and had a great respect for him at the same time, for never was dog at once so gentle and so terrible. He would jump upon me to caress me, and knock me down flat under the weight of his great paws, while I in turn used to sit upon his back, roll on the top of him when he was resting, and unmercifully pull his ears and his tail.
“He was mine to do as I liked with, for my nurse would deny me nothing, and I chose to adopt Tiger for my own. Everyone loved the brave big dog who knew him: but now I must come to the point of my story.
“One evening, at twilight, I was out playing with my little foster-brother a short distance from the cottage, on the outskirts of a large wood. We were sitting on a bank talking, and he was telling me of a ghost which, he said, had been frightening everybody in the neighbourhood of late.
“‘Ah,’ cried little Pierrette, shuddering, ‘this frightful ghost makes the grown-up people run away: what should we do if we saw it now?’