he said. "I am going to lift you over the stile, and then you shall give
me a kiss for it."

He flung his arms about me and I closed my eyes while I tried to push
him away. I felt his breath on my face, and my loathing of him was so
great that it made me physically incapable of resistance. I uttered one
cry, but I felt that there was no body of sound in it to carry it even
if anybody had been near. But suddenly I heard a furious growl, and I
felt myself released.

"Damn the brute! She has bitten me," he said furiously.

And there he was with the blood running down his hand, while my brave
old dog stood by ready to defend me against all the world.




CHAPTER IX

A ROUGH LOVER


For a second or two we stood staring at each other while Richard Dawson
mopped the blood from his hand.

"Don't you see that your damned dog has bitten me?" he shouted, as
though my silence infuriated him.

"I see," I said with my hand on Dido's collar to restrain her. "You