And then he came up dolorously from the tool-house.
Lad did not understand, at all, what was wrong.

He knew only that Lady had been shut up in a place she detested and that she was horribly unhappy and that the Master would not let her out.

It perplexed him; and it made him increasingly wretched.

Not only did he miss his playfully capricious young mate, but her unhappiness made him heartsick.
Vainly, he tried to plead with the Master for her release, as the walk began; and again at its end.
There were such a lot of things in the world that even the cleverest collie could not make head or tail of! And most of these things were sad.
That night, when the house was shut, Lad crept as usual into his cave under the piano.

And he lay down with a sigh, his great head between his two absurdly small white forepaws.