Anne of Ingleside - L. M. Montgomery [63]
‘Roddy’s father died a month ago and he has to go to live with his aunt in town. His mother died years ago. And Jake Millison has bought the farm. But the house is going to be torn down. Maybe his aunt won’t let him keep the dog. It’s no great shakes of a dog, but Roddy has always had an awful notion of it.’
‘I wonder how much he wants for it. I’ve only got a dollar,’ said Jem.
‘I guess what he wants most is a good home for it,’ said Craig. ‘But your Dad would give you the money for it, wouldn’t he?’
‘Yes. But I want to buy a dog with my own money,’ said Jem. ‘It would feel more like my dog then.’
Craig shrugged. Those Ingleside kids were funny. What did it matter who put up the cash for an old dog?
That evening Dad drove Jem down to the old, thin, run-down Crawford farm where they found Roddy Crawford and his dog. Roddy was a boy of about Jem’s age… a pale lad, with straight, reddish-brown hair and a crop of freckles; his dog had silky brown ears, brown nose and tail, and the most beautiful soft brown eyes ever seen in a dog’s head. The moment Jem saw that darling dog, with the white stripe down his forehead that parted in two between his eyes and framed his nose, he knew he must have him.
‘You want to sell your dog?’ he asked eagerly.
‘I don’t want to sell him,’ said Roddy dully. ‘But Jake says I’ll have to or he’ll drown him. He says Aunt Vinnie won’t have a dog about.’
‘What do you want for him?’ asked Jem, scared that some prohibitive price would be named.
Roddy gave a great gulp. He held out his dog.
‘Here, take him,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I ain’t going to sell him… I ain’t. Money would never pay for Bruno. If you’ll give him a good home… and be kind to him…’
‘Oh, I’ll be kind to him,’ said Jem eagerly. ‘But you my dollar. I wouldn’t feel he was my dog if you didn’t. I won’t take him if you don’t.’
He forced the dollar into Roddy’s reluctant hand, he took Bruno and held him close to his breast. The little dog looked back at his master. Jem could not see his eyes but he could see Roddy’s.
‘If you want him so much…’
‘I want him but I can’t have him,’ snapped Roddy. ‘There’s been five people here after him and I wouldn’t let one of them have him… Jake was awful mad, but I don’t care. They weren’t right. But you… I want you to have him since I can’t, and take him out of my sight quick!’
Jem obeyed. The little dog was trembling in his arms, but he made no protest. Jem held him lovingly all the way back to Ingleside.
‘Dad, how did Adam know that a dog was a dog?’
‘Because a dog couldn’t be anything but a dog,’ grinned Dad. ‘Could he now?’
Jem was too excited to sleep for ever so long that night. He had never seen a dog he liked so much as Bruno. No wonder Roddy hated parting with him. But Bruno would soon forget Roddy and love him. They would be pals. He must remember to ask Mother to make sure the butcher sent up the bones.
‘I love everybody and everything in the world,’ said Jem. ‘Dear God, bless every cat and dog in the world but specially Bruno.’
Jem fell asleep at last. Perhaps a little dog lying at the foot of the bed with his chin upon his outstretched paws slept, too: and perhaps he did not.
25
Cock Robin had ceased to subsist on worms and ate rice, corn, lettuce, and nasturtium seeds. He had grown to be a huge size… the ‘big robin’ at Ingleside was becoming locally famous… and his breast had turned to a beautiful red. He would perch on Susan’s shoulder and watch her knit. He would fly to meet Anne when she returned after an absence and hop before her into the house: he came to Walter’s window-sill every morning for crumbs.
He took his daily bath in a basin in the backyard, in the corner of the sweet-briar hedge, and would raise the most unholy fuss if he found no water in it. The doctor complained that his pens and matches