Dearie, Dot and the dog

Front matter

SESi her mother waved her hand gallantly

Dear ie , Dot ar)d t/ye Dog

Jutie M. X i p p m ann

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I “ Chiffon ” 5

II Getting Acquainted 17

Chapter I “ Chiffon ”

Dearie and Dot stood beside a great spile amid a crowd of people upon the pier, and Dot’s mother stood beside the brass rail amid another crowd of people upon the deck of the huge ocean steamship that was just about to start upon its long voyage across the sea.

Everything was haste and noise and confusion. Whistles blew, bells clanged and men shouted.

Dot clutched Dearie’s hand and snuggled closer to her side, for in all her eight short years of life she had never before been in such a hubbub as this and it frightened her very much. Her mother gazed down at her and smiled and waved her hand gallantly, but Dot could see that her face was white and that her lips trembled in spite of the smile. Hot tears welled up into Dot’s eyes at the sight, but she crushed them back again, for Dearie had said that it was go- 5 ing to be hard enough for her mother to go away and leave her little girl behind, as she was compelled to do, without having the added grief of seeing her in sorrow and being unable to comfort her. Still, her effort might have been in vain, for a big, choking sob was rising in her throat, if just at that moment her attention had not been turned from her own trouble to that of some one else. The gangplank had been drawn away, the big warning-bell had rung “ All ashore f ” for the last time, and the band on deck was starting in to play the first bars of a gay military march when all at once, back upon the dock, there was a great clatter of hoofs and wheels, a great shouting, and a big man with a very red face, and a little lady with a very pale one were seen to rush frantically from the cab in which they had dashed up, toward the steamer that was just about to move away.

Dot was too little to be able to make out how these late-comers were bundled on board, but in a moment they were on the lower deck and she saw the little lady turn, look quickly toward the pier and then wring her hands together as if in great distress. The big man turned too, but he only shook his head sadly and the little woman seemed to feel that that settled the question once and for all, whatever it might be, for she stopped wringing her hands and leaned over the brass deck-rail and gazed miserably over the water which was quickly widening between her and the land, searching for something which, apparently, she could not see.

Dot’s mother nodded “ good-bye ” again and again ; a cloud of white handkerchiefs waved from ship and shore ; the band crashed out its gay tune and people cheered, laughed and cried all at once, while the great boat swung slowly out and away into the stream. Suddenly Dot saw the little lady on the lower deck give a great start, clap her hands wildly and point excitedly toward where she and Dearie were standing on the pier. Following the direction of her finger Dot turned and lo ! there just beside where she stood at the top of the high spile that rose well above the edge of the pier squatted a little white dog. It was so little and so white a dog that, at first, Dot could hardly believe it was actually alive and had clambered up there alone, but in some manner it had found its way to the water’s edge and was now sitting perched up at that dizzy height gazing anxiously out after the moving ship and looking so lonely and forsaken that Dot’s heart quite thumped with pity at sight of it. Without stopping to think she dropped Dearie’s hand and stood on tiptoe trying to reach the snowy bunch.

“ Oh, puppy, puppy ! ” she cried in great excitement, looking up at the wee creature adoringly, “did the ship go off and leave you ? Did it ? Did it ? ”

At the sound of her sweet young voice the tuft of white wool turned its head and looked down at Dot enquiringly, seeming dumbly to demand if she really were a friend who could sympathize and perhaps help in his time of trouble.

“ Oh, dear puppy— poor puppy ! ” she said as if in answer to his question.

The tiny thing evidently felt satisfied that she would at least do what she could and so, to make its case quite clear it suddenly sat up stiff and straight and putting its forepaws together supplicatingly, began waving them violently up and down in the direction of the ship.

A great shout of delight went up from the watching crowd.

“ See, it’s begging ! ”

“ What a cunning trick ! ”

“ It wants to be taken to its owners on the ship ! ”

“ The poor little mite ! ”

Dot’s eyes were wet with tears. “ Oh, I’m so sorry, puppy,” she declared in a tremulous voice. “ But you can’t go on the ship, you know. Neither can I. It has sailed off and left us and we won’t see our folks for a long, long time.”

The ball of white fluff on top of the spile seemed to ponder her words very carefully, for its beseeching stopped and it sat quite still, with its head on one side, looking at her closely. “ Dear, dear ! ” it seemed to be thinking, “ I’m not at all certain I understand, but I seem to be in a very bad plight indeed. My own dear missy has gone away, on that thing that is floating off beyond there and it’s impossible to reach her. I can’t imagine how I came to be left behind in that wretched jolty affair they called a cab, for I am by habit very prompt and always ready and she hardly ever doesn’t take me with her when she goes out. I can’t believe she intended to desert me ! No, indeed ! Why, only this morning she put this bright, new silver collar around my neck and locked it on with a little key, and I’m sure she wouldn’t have done that, if she had meant to forsake me. No, no. It was quite an accident. But, nevertheless, I’m in a very sad way. I’m afraid of this crowd of strangers. The only one I seem to understand at all is this kind young missy io witli the clear voice and eyes of love for little dogs. She appears to be telling me that I can’t go on. the ship and that she can’t either'for that matter. So, it seems, we are in the same boat — which is to say we are out of the same boat. If that is really the case who will give me my meals ? Who will cuddle me when I feel chilly and lonesome ? Who will let me sleep on a nice silk cushion at the foot of her bed o’ nights? Oh me! Oh my! I feel very forlorn and sorrowful. I wonder if I can trust this new friend? Guess I’ll try. She looks kind. Anyway— here goes ! ”

Suddenly a short, sharp bark broke from the little tuft of white down on the top of the spile. It gave a long look toward the ship and then, without more ado, turned and sprang straight down into Dot’s arms where it settled itself comfortably, licking her hands and wagging its tail as if to seal and sign its new compact of friendliness.

“Oh, you pet! You precious ! ” crooned Dot in delight.

The crowd about her cheered. It was such a pretty sight : the delicate child caressing the dainty dog : a pair of little lonely things comforting each other.

But the general noise and notice made Dot shy and

1 1 she grasped Dearie’s hand tightly, whispering to her in a scared, breathless voice of anxiety :

“ Oh, Dearie, won’t you please — to take me home ?”

“ Why, yes, Dot, of course I will, if you wish to go. But I’m sure you want to have another glimpse of your mother, don’t you ? See, the ship has only gone out a way, so it may have room to turn around. There ! It is turning around now. In a few minutes it will pass by here again — it may come quite near — and then, if you look sharp perhaps you can catch a glimpse of mamma and wave ‘Good-bye’ to her once more.”

Sure enough ! Dearie was right ! The great boat had swung slowly about and was at that very moment making straight back on its track past the pier. The crowd forgot to watch Dot and the dog in its eagerness to watch the ship and Dot herself remembered nothing but her mother and the fact that if she “looked sharp ” she might possibly see her again. Nearer and nearer came the ship. Its decks were white with waving handkerchiefs and black with what looked like a swarm of ants. Another moment and hark ! those were the strains of the military march the band was playing. The crowd on the pier shouted and the crowd on board answered. Now the ants on deck turned out to be real people and now the people were beginning to look like persons — persons one had seen before and could recognize. There, was not that the tall man with the field-glasses slung over his shoulder, whom Dot had noticed because he was so very cross to everybody who came in his way ? And was not that the poor girl on the steerage-deck who had cried so loudly when her brother took leave of her ? And there — up there — was not that Dot’s mother leaning upon the rail and waving her hand gallantly and smiling that sweet, trembling smile of farewell, just as she had done before ?

Suddenly Dot felt a stifling tug at her heart and heard a quivering, sobbing voice cry out :

“O, mamma, mamma! I didn’t mean to — but I can’t help it — I can’t help crying — I want you so” — and wondered what other little girl’s mother was sailing away from her and leaving her grieving behind, until she felt Dearie’s comforting arm draw close about her and found herself listening to Dearie’s gentle, soothing voice saying :

“ Be brave, Dot darling. Don’t cry ! Show a smiling face. Don’t let mother’s last glimpse of her little daughter be a sad one,” and knew that she herself had been the girl who had cried out and that she had done what she had promised Dearie she would on no account permit herself to do.

In a flash she had brushed the tears away and raising the white puppy high in air was waving it bravely above her head, calling “ Good-bye, mamma ! Good-bye, mamma ! ” as loud as she could shout. Her mother looked and smiled — a real, true, sure-enough smile this time and then — all at once, Dot felt herself grasped and lifted up in two, great, strong arms and set atop of the spile on which the puppy had sat. She was not in the least alarmed, for the two strong hands held her fast and one glimpse into the laughing, kindly face of the gentleman to whom they belonged was enough to convince her he was “ trustable.”

From her high perch it seemed as if she could look the whole ship over. There was the sick lady in the “ spreading-out ” chair whom she had seen carried on board. There was the big man with the red face who had almost been left behind and there — yes, there beside him was the little lady with the pale face who had wrung her hands so disconsolately when she found herself hustled on deck without her white bow-wow and who had clapped them so happily when she saw it perched safe and sound on the towering spile. She clapped them again now, as she saw Dot with the dog in her arms and then, in a series of very expressive gestures, she made it clear to everybody about that the little creature belonged to her and that she loved it dearly, but since it had been left behind and found its way to a new friend Dot might have it to keep as her very own. The pantomime was hardly over and Dot was having to keep a sharp lookout for the concluding gestures when the great ship swept past and beyond into the distance. She caught a last, long look from her mother, sent her a bright, brave smile in return and then she was lightly lifted from off her pedestal and set upon the ground by Dearie’s side.

So it was all over. The ship had started out upon her long voyage across the ocean and the ones who were left behind had nothing now to do but turn their faces toward home and make the best of life as it would be without the dear ones who had sailed away.

Dearie grasped Dot’s hand and guided her safely through the wilderness of horses, drays and dockhands out into the street, while Dot, in turn, clasped doggie tightly to her breast and was only afraid that by some mischance it might escape from her and be lost forever amid the crowd.

But the puppy had no intention of being left behind a second time that morning. It snuggled close to its new mistress and looked out from the shelter of her arm and the tangle of its own long white fringe of hair with bright, inquisitive eyes which seemed to notice everything and to see that such a big, busy world was no place for a small, unprotected dog to wander about.

It was only when they were safely settled in the homeward-bound car that Dot found her first opportunity to become really acquainted with her new treasure.

44 See, oh see, Dearie ! ” she whispered eagerly in her young aunt’s ear. “Its eyes are brown, aren’t they ? And look ! It has a collar on — a bright, new, silver collar with lettering across ; isn’t it beautiful ? — 4 C-H-I-F-F-O-N ! ’ What does that mean, Dearie, dear ? ”

Dearie smiled and examined the delicate engraving carefully.

44 It is evidently the doggie’s name,” she explained. 44 And it is a French word that means rag or scrap. The puppy is such a shaggy, silky, white mite I suppose its mistress thought it looked like a little scrap and called it so. Just as when you were a new-born baby we thought you so very tiny a thing, that we called you Dot although your real name is Barbara.”

“ Chiffon ! Chiffon ! ” repeated Dot thoughtfully, trying to accustom herself to the doggie’s foreign name.

And Chiffon in return wagged its tail vehemently and gave two short, sharp barks that sounded like “Dot! Dot!” And so it was that these two new friends were formally introduced.

Chapter II Getting Acquainted

Long after Dot and Chiffon had fallen asleep that night (Dot in her snowy white bed and Chiffon upon a soft down-cushion in a basket-bed of his own), Dearie sat awake and thought and thought until the lamp burned low and the clock chimed out the latest of hours. She did not feel precisely sad, but she certainly felt very serious, for she knew that a great responsibility had been placed upon her and she realized how difficult it would be to prove equal to it, for though in Dot’s opinion she was extremely old and full of wisdom, she was in reality very youthful and only as wise as a young lady of her age has any right to be.

She was some years younger than Dot’s mother, who was her only sister and in whose home she had lived ever since Mrs. Brooke’s marriage to Dot’s father, ten years before. Captain Brooke was a naval officer : commander of one of the ships in the government service, and two years ago he had set sail for the other side of the world where his sea duty would 17 keep him for twelve months longer. It had not been possible for him to take his family with him, for Dot was frail and delicate and could not have borne the climate into which he had gone, but on the other hand he himself had been ailing lately and it seemed necessary that his wife should follow him to his eastern station. So it was that she had been a passenger in the great outgoing ocean-liner that morning, and that Dearie and Dot had stood waving her a last good-bye from the end of the pier, and so it was that Dearie sat thinking such serious thoughts so late at night, while Dot lay fast asleep in her snowy white bed and Chiffon dreamed contentedly beside her in a basket-bed of his own.

To keep her sister’s house for her in her absence and take proper care of her little daughter — this was what it was to be Dearie’s duty to do from now on for a year to come, and it must be confessed it seemed to her to be no easy task.

“ Suppose — suppose ” — her troublesome thoughts kept suggesting.

But it is the worst of bad plans to give way to the discouragement that comes by “supposing” all the dreadful things that may happen, and that very seldom do, and Dearie gave herself a quick little shake as the clock chimed out midnight, and she realized how long she had been sitting there indulging in useless worry. She turned down the wick of the lamp with a snap and hastened up-stairs to make ready for bed, a valiant look in her clear young eyes and a determined expression about her mouth. Her head had hardly touched the pillow when she was fast asleep and then, the next moment as it seemed to her, she was awakened by sounds of laughing and barking in the little room next her own, and sat up in a sudden amazement to see the sun streaming in at the window and to hear Dot’s exclamations of delight over the accomplishments of her new friend who, it appeared, was “showing off ” with great good nature and much pride in the appreciation his tricks received.

“Oh, Chiffon! You funny, funny lambie-dog!” Dot was saying, between laughs. “ How did you learn to beg so prettily? And to think of your being able to walk on your hind legs ! And to put up your paw to shake hands ! Why, you’re just the most knowing dog in the world ! ”

Dearie drew her watch out from under her pillow and looked to see what hour it was.

“ Dot ! — Dot ! ” she called cheerily. “ Seven o’clock and time to get up ! ”

The usual answer to this summons was a languid “Very well — bime-by ! ” but now Dearie was astonished to hear instead the briskest of brisk voices returning, “ All right, Dearie, dear, I’ll hurry ! ”

And hurry she did, drawing on her stockings and buttoning her shoes without a murmur after Dearie had whisked her in and out of the bath tub, where she had ducked and plunged like a young porpoise at play.

“ We’ll have to scrub Chiffon too, one of these days,” Dearie explained, while she was combing and brushing Dot’s hair, and the little girl quite forgot to cry out during the operation that “ it pulled,” as it was her habit to do, so intent was she on the novel idea of the small dog having to be shampooed.

“ He is as white as cotton wool, isn’t he, Dearie?” she exclaimed, looking down proudly upon the snowy creature stretching himself lazily at her feet.

“ Yes but he will not be so long, if we do not keep him properly bathed and brushed. You would be surprised to see how short a time it would take before his hair would grow smutty and matted if it were neglected. Dogs and Dots need a lot of attention if we want them to be dainty and lovable,” with which Dearie lifted Dot from her chair of torture, kissed her on both cheeks and pronounced her “ done and ready for breakfast.”

There were a thousand things to be attended to that day, and Dearie was so busy that she hardly had a chance to give more than an occasional hurried glance into the nursery, but every time she did so, she found the two new friends playing contentedly together and so absorbed in their games that they did not notice her at all.

“ It’s so much better than if Dot were lonely and fretting her heart out for her mother,” she said to herself with satisfaction, as she went softly away and back to her tasks again.

In the meantime Chiffon did not find it entirely comfortable to be decked out in dolly Johanna-Marie’s dresses, even though they were her “ best Sunday-goto-meeting ” ones, but he tried to make the best of it until he saw his opportunity to escape, when he made a rush for the door and gave Dot a grand chase before she could catch him. Under tables and over chairs he went ! Down-stairs like a little streak of white lightning and into closets and out of them again until she was fairly breathless with running, and was only too glad, when at last he let her overtake him, to strip off the objectionable garments and leave him to enjoy his nap in peace while she pretended he had been a burglar who had broken into the nursery and made off with Johanna-Marie’s wardrobe, and that she had heroically captured him and cast him into prison for his crime. She had never had such good sport and exercise as this, and she came to the luncheon-table with the healthiest of appetites and the rosiest of cheeks, while Chiffon showed his recovered relish for life by sitting up beside her chair and Dearie’s and begging in his very best manner for every mouthful he saw pass between their lips.

“No one must give him any meat until we have made sure it will agree with him,” declared Dearie as she prepared a delicious saucerful of bread and milk and bade Ellen, the maid, carry it to the butler’s pantry, which was to be Chiffon’s special dining-room after this.

u He dearly loves liver,” suggested Dot. “ Did you see how he jumped about and begged for it this morning, at breakfast ? ”

“ Yes, dear, but we must not attempt to give him any until we have asked some one who knows all about dogs, just what diet is best for this breed of puppy.”

“ What breed of puppy ? ”

“ Chiffon’s. I think I can safely say he’s neither a St. Bernard nor a Great Dane,” laughed Dearie looking down at the wee bunch with eyes of amusement; “ but to tell you the truth I don’t know much more than that. We’ll ask a dog-fancier and he’ll be able to settle it. He’ll advise us too, what we ought to feed him and in the meantime, to avoid risks, Chiffon must be kept on the simplest of food — bread and milk, and bread and gravy and such good, harmless stuff.”

Ellen smiled a little guiltily at Dearie’s words, for she and Katy, the cook, had been unable to resist Chiffon’s captivating wiles and had given him a generous supply of liver that morning when he had turned up his fastidious little nose at his own breakfast and had wandered down into the kitchen region following the savory smell of the frying meat.

Katy had thought his begging trick the “ takin’est thing ever was,” and Ellen had decided that such virtue ought certainly to be rewarded, and that “a little bite o’ somethin’ to put his teeth in,” could not possibly “ harm him a mite,” and so between them both, Chiffon, like J. Sprat Esq. and his wife, had “ licked the platter clean.” After such a glorious feast no wonder the simple fare Dearie was preparing for him looked tame and uninviting. Chiffon eyed it with unconcealed scorn and when Ellen carried it into the butler’s pantry and set it upon the floor, he refused to follow, turning his back upon her and deliberately walking off in another direction to show his contempt for the whole proceeding.

Dearie laughed with amusement over his high-andmighty temper, but Dot could not see any fun in it when all the time she felt her “ precious puppy ” was “ starving to death.”

“ Not a bit of it,” Dearie reassured her. “ He is altogether too fastidious. When he is hungry he’ll be glad to take what he can get and what is good for him. We mustn’t spoil him, you know. It isn’t wholesome for any one to be so over-particular and finical.”

Dot’s eyelids quivered and she looked down at her plate with a conscious flush. She never had been able to like string-beans and there was at that moment a little pile' of them hidden beneath her knife and fork which she had hoped Dearie would not discover. But now of her own accord she made a sudden dash at them and they were gone in a flash.

Dearie did not seem to notice, but when the dessert was brought in, Dot’s share was unusually generous and, as it happened to be a dish she particularly liked, she felt well repaid for her little struggle.

But Chiffon remained obstinate and the despised dish in the pantry had to be removed untasted. If Dot had dared she would have given in and gotten him something more to his taste, but Dearie had strictly forbidden it and so it was a famishing doggie, as she thought, that Dot took out for a walk that afternoon.

What fun it was to see people stop and gaze after her property with eyes of admiration and to hear them exclaim upon his attractions and accomplishments ! By evening Dot knew that she owned not alone a very pretty pet but an extremely valuable one as well.

“ ’E’s a Maltese terrier, miss,” the dog-fancier assured Dearie. “ H’and a mighty good ’un at that. I know ’im well. ’E belonged to Mrs. Livingston Lawson 00s ’us band ’as been made minister to — to — well, Ili’ve forgot the name of the place, but it’s in foreign parts somewhere. She thought a lot of ’im — II i means the dog, miss, not ’er ’usband. ’E’s got a A 1 pedigree. You’ll ’ave to look out for ’im, for there’s a plenty would be glad enough to steal ’im off of you and sell ’im again in another city for a big ’andful. Yes, miss, better feed ’im light and give ’im h’enough h’exercise. Them little lap-dogs gets to be mighty lazy h’if you don’t keep ’em stirrin’ some.”

“ Oh, Dearie,” Dot whispered excitedly, as they left the shop. “You don’t really think any one would carry off my puppy, do you ? ”

“I hope not,” returned Dearie who had been as much dismayed as Dot was by the dog-fancier’s suggestion, though she would not have confessed it for the world. “ I hope not. But we’ll keep a sharp lookout and never lose hold of him a moment when we have him in the street. And we must warn Ellen and Katy about the basement door. He might slip out there some day if they leave it open when he is about.”

“ Oh, dear me ! ” sighed Dot. “ Seems to me it’s going to be very worrisome, if we’ve got to think of Chiffon every single minute for fear something’ll happen to him.”

Dearie smiled. “ That’s responsibility, little lady. When we have pets we must take care of them. I’m trying to take care of you and you are trying to take care of Chiffon, and so it goes.”

“ But who’s Chiffon trying to take care of ? ”

“ Oh — I don’t know — the house, maybe. He probably feels that if he didn’t bark every once

WE WILL NEVER LOSE HOLD OF HIM in a while, all sorts of things would happen to us all.”

“Well, I don’t know what in the world I’d do without him now,” said Dot, looking down at him adoringly as he trotted along beside her at the end of his long, newly-bought leash. “ And if I knew some dreadful man had him I guess I’d — I’d cry my eyes out. Nellie Carter saw a dog once that had a firecracker tied to his tail. She told me about it. It was Fourth of July and some horrid boys had put it on, and when it went off the dog was almost frightened to death. He ran with all his might and main, and they laughed. Don’t you think they were cruel, Dearie, to treat him so? Just think if Chiffon had a firecracker tied to his tail ”