“Of course, you mean Captain Murray's.”
“Of course I do. Don't you agree with me about its being a good place, and had we not better walk right up there now and see if they will consider it?” They had come to the railroad crossing, and the shrill whistle of a locomotive brought them to a standstill. Seldom an express train went spinning through Moorlow that Hereward did not run a race with it, and the engineers on the road were always on the lookout for him. Hereward was a very knowing dog; he would lie dozing in the sun, and let the local trains steam up to the little station and off again, without so much as cocking up an ear, but would detect the approach of the “express” way down the track. To-night proved no exception to the rule. Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax watched him proudly, as in a flash he gathered himself together and started for the race. For fully a quarter of a mile he held his own, and, if he had possessed as inexhaustible a supply of breath as the iron-chested engine, his long limbs might sometimes have won him the victory.
As for Ned, this sort of thing was not at all to his taste, and he stood looking stolidly on, as much as to say, “Great waste of time and energy.”
Between you and me, had his body been as long, and his legs as slender as Hereward's, he would probably have joined in the wild scamper. There are people here and there in the world not at all unlike Ned; they sit and frown upon certain innocent pleasures simply because they are not fitted by nature to enjoy them.
Breathless and satisfied, Hereward was soon back again, trotting and sniffing along as though nothing had happened.
“I do not believe we had better go to Captain Murray's tonight,” said Mrs. Fairfax, taking up the conversation where the train and Hereward's performances had interrupted it; “I would like time to think it over.”
“Oh, I've thought it over enough for both of us, Alice. Besides, you see, we must decide upon some plan pretty quickly; it is only ten days now before we sail.”
