to the owners of dogs, beget no unreasonable apprehensions in the
proprietors of carpets. So there stood the landlady, and there stood the
dog! and there they might be standing to this day had not the Comedian
dissolved the spell. "Take up my effects again," said he, turning to the
porter; "doubtless they are more habituated to distinguish between dog
and dog at the Royal Hotel."

The landlady was mollified in a moment. Nor was it only the rivalries
that necessarily existed between the Saracen's Head and the Royal Hotel
that had due weight with her. A gentleman who could not himself deign to
carry even that small bundle must be indeed a gentleman! Had he come
with a portmanteau--even with a carpet-bag--the porter's service would
have been no evidence of rank; but accustomed as she was chiefly to
gentlemen engaged in commercial pursuits, it was new to her experience,
--a gentleman with effects so light, and hands so aristocratically
helpless. Herein were equally betokened the two attributes of birth and
wealth; namely, the habit of command and the disdain of shillings. A
vague remembrance of the well-known story how a man and his dog had
arrived at the Granby Hotel, at Harrowgate, and been sent away roomless
to the other and less patrician establishment, because, while he had a
dog, he had not a servant; when, five minutes after such dismissal, came
carriages and lackeys and an imperious valet, asking for his grace the
Duke of A--------, who had walked on before with his dog, and who, oh,
everlasting thought of remorse! had been sent away to bring the other
establishment into fashion,--a vague reminiscence of that story, I say,
flashed upon the landlady's mind, and she exclaimed, "I only thought,
sir, you might prefer the stables; of course, it is as you please. This
way, sir. He is a fine animal, indeed, and seems mild."

"You may bring up the bundle, porter," quoth the Pere Noble. "Take my