146 MY EARLY FRIENDS.
 I remember Skatta's being lent to a sportsman, who was
very desirous of availing himself of her powers; but no bribe
of game or sport would detain her from her friends. So soon
as she was let loose, she broke away and rushed back to them,
the quick pattering of her feet sounding in every room of the
house, her gleaming eyes and vibrating tail appealing to each
member of the family in turn with a Here I am, you see; I
could not and I would not stay away."
 The pertinacity with which Skatta followed her master
sometimes produced awkward results. He was attending the
funeral of an old retainer of the family, to whom he desired to
pay particular respect. He believed that the dog was safe at
a distance when he was motioned to a place of honour close to
the open grave. He observed a little disturbance among the
ring of mourners, and, to his horror, discovered Skatta in the
centre, by his side, with her head poked inquisitively forward
over what was to her a great black hole.
 Skatta came to us when some of us were young enough to
dress her in Rona's cast-off clothes; she lived sufficiently long
with us to see the steps of the youngest grow slow, and care
settling on their brows. She was a silent witness to many
changes-to the passing away of one honoured face, the break-
ing up of the old home, the dispersion of the family. She
herself was so old that both her sight and hearing were nearly
gone, and she could hardly answer to the signal of the master
she had loved so well. Her life was becoming a burden to
her-she was getting diseased as well as infirm. It was feared
she would prove dangerous to a child in the house where she
lived, as she had always been jealous of children where her
master was concerned, disliking to see him take them into