Bless it, I could smother it with kissing it, I
could! Hie then, good dog! Hie Boxer, boy! Only
let me make the tea first, John; and then I'll help
you with the parcels, like a busy bee. "How doth
the little" -- and all the rest of it, you know, John.
Did you ever learn "how doth the little," when you
went to school, John?'
'Not to quite know it,' John returned. 'I was very
near it once. But I should only have spoilt it, I
dare say.'
'Ha ha,' laughed Dot. She had the blithest little
laugh you ever heard. 'What a dear old darling of
a dunce you are, John, to be sure!'
Not at all disputing this position, John went out
to see that the boy with the lantern, which had been
dancing to and fro before the door and window,
like a Will of the Wisp, took due care of the horse;
who was fatter than you would quite believe, if I
gave you his measure, and so old that his birthday
was lost in the mists of antiquity. Boxer, feeling
that his attentions were due to the family in general,
and must be impartially distributed, dashed in and
out with bewildering inconstancy; now, describing a
circle of short barks round the horse, where he was
being rubbed down at the stable-door; now, feigning
to make savage rushes at his mistress, and facetiously
bringing himself to sudden stops; now, eliciting a
shriek from Tilly Slowboy, in the low nursing-chair
near the fire, by the unexpected application of his
moist nose to her countenance; now, exhibiting an
obtrusive interest in the baby; now, going round and
round upon the hearth, and lying down as if he had
established himself for the night; now, getting up
again, and.
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