FANNY, AND HER DOG NEPTUNE. 43

with all the dignity of an appointed guardian, till the
stranger was quite out of sight, when he ran on as before.
 "Does he really know that he has to take care of you?"
asked Sarah.
 "I don't know what he really knows, because he can't
speak; but he seems to know almost everything."
 "Oh, I wish we had such a dog! Where did you get
him, Fanny?"
 "Why, two summers ago, Mr. Wilson came out here to
make papa a visit ; and he got very ill, and it was ever
so hot; and I sat by him to keep off the flies, and used to
bring him drinks, and so on. And he thought it was a
great deal for a little girl to do-you know, two summers
ago I was a little girl, Sarah" (Fanny was now eight
years old); "and when he got well and went away, he
sent me a present of a pair of emerald ear-rings."
 Oh, did he ? My mother has promised me a pair for
my next birth-day."
 Yes, he did; but mamma does not mean I shall ever
wear ear-rings. She says it is not fitting for civilized
people to pierce their flesh to put in ornaments like
savages, and so mamma sent them back to Mr. Wilson."
 Was not he affronted ?"
 "Oh no; mamma wrote him a note, and I suppose she
told him-what she told me-that she did not wish me
to have any other reward than the pleasure of doing him
a service; but Mr. Wilson would not let it run on so, and
he brought me Neptune-he was a pup then. Mr. Wil-
son said mamma must not refuse him, because, as we
lived so near the river, mamma was always getting frights
about me, and she need not have any anxiety if I had a
Newfoundland dog to attend me. So mamma was glad
enough to take him, and now he seems just like one of
the family; and when Beverly Thompson offered papa ten
pounds for him, papa said he might as well offer to buy
me; and besides, papa told him the dog was mine."
 But would not you sell him for ten pounds, Fanny?"
 No, indeed, I would not."
 "Oh, Fanny! Only think, with ten pounds you could