"LOW LIFE." 37
own level-or that he even altogether got rid of that lowered
moral standard and grave deterioration which he suffered
during his stay in Mr. Jerry Noakes' yard.
 I am sorry to say I can make no such assertion. On the
contrary, it was a great shock to Mrs. Miles, who was pre-
eminently an honest woman, to discover that Prince-fairly to
be relied upon at home-could not come within a hundred
yards of the baker's and butcher's shops in the village without
undergoing a distressing transformation. He would slip
away from his mistress' side, if he happened to be out
marketing with her, dodge about with an evident disreputable
assumption of an incognito, for he was but a fifth-rate actor
after all, till he saw his opportunity, then improve it by dart-
ing to the scene of action, seizing the coveted twopenny loaf
or sheep's liver, though he had made an excellent breakfast
that very morning, and making off with it like the wind.
 It was to no purpose that he was pursued, convicted,
punished; the next time temptation met him, he fell without
fail, repeating the offence. It was as if the temptation, once
habitually indulged in, had become irresistible to poor stupid
Prince.
 Mrs. Miles had a struggle whether she ought to keep
a dog with such a disgraceful propensity, and one day she was
very nearly giving him up, when by his gross self-indulgence
he covered not only her but his master with ridicule and shame.
 It was on a Sunday at noon, of all times, but Mrs. Miles
had not been to church-she had sat up, the night before,
with a sick neighbour. She had carried the younger child
with her on her errand of mercy, while Mr. Miles had taken
care of the elder, and been at church with him, leaving Prince