"I came last night," he volunteered, after what seemed satisfactory inspection.
Ann just smiled at him, rumpling the puppy's soft woolly coat.
"How long you been here ?" he asked cordially.
"Just two days," she told him.
"I'm going to stay all summer," he announced, hoisting his puppy a little higher.
"That's nice," said Ann; her puppy was climbing too.
"How long you goin' to stay ?" he wanted to know.
"Miss Ann is going to stay just as long as we are real nice to her, Worthie," said Katie, looking up from the magazine she was cutting.
"She can play with the puppies every morning, Aunt Kate," he cried in a fervent burst of hospitality.
"You got a dog at home ?" he asked of Ann.
At the silence, Katie looked up.

The puppy was now cuddled upon Ann's breast, her two arms about it.

As she shook her head her chin brushed the soft puppy fur--then buried itself in it.

Her eyes deepened.
"It must be just the dreadfulest thing there is not to have a dog," Worth condoled.
There was no response.

The puppy's head was on Ann's shoulder.