"Only for to-night. He is very ill. A dreadful thing happened to
him, Mary." And Miss Laura went on to tell her how my ears had
been cut off.

"Oh, that's the dog the boys were talking about," said the woman.
"Poor creature, he's welcome to all I can do for him." She opened a
closet door, and brought out a box, and folded a piece of blanket
for me to lie on. Then she heated some milk in a saucepan, and
poured it in a saucer, and watched me while Miss Laura went
upstairs to get a little bottle of something that would make me
sleep. They poured a few drops of this medicine into the milk and
offered it to me. I lapped a little, but I could not finish it, even
though Miss Laura coaxed me very gently to do so. She dipped her
finger in the milk and held it out to me and though I did not want
it, I could not be ungrateful enough to refuse to lick her finger as
often as she offered it to me. After the milk was gone, Mary lifted
up my box, and carried me into the washroom that was off the
kitchen.

I soon fell sound asleep, and could not rouse myself through the
night, even though I both smelled and heard some one coming near
me several times. The next morning I found out that it was Miss
Laura. Whenever there was a sick animal in the house, no matter if
it was only the tame rat, she would get up two or three times in the
night, to see if there was anything she could do to make it more
comfortable.

CHAPTER V MY NEW HOME AND A SELFISH LADY