A DOG OF FLANDERS. 135

Their life in it had been full of labor
and privation, and yet they had been
so well content, so gay of heart, run-
ning together to meet the old man’s
never-failing smile of welcome!

All night long the boy and the
dog sat by the fireless hearth in the
darkness, drawn close together for
warmth and sorrow. Their bodies
were insensible to the cold, but their
hearts seemed frozen in them.

When the morning broke over the
_ white, chill earth it was the morning
of Christmas Eve. With a shudder
Nello clasped close to him his only
friend, while his tears fell hot and
fast on the dog’s frank forehead.
“Let us go, Patrasche,—dear, dear
Patrasche,’ he murmured. “ We