Then He Rose Quite Refreshed And Appeared To Have Forgotten
All About It; But That Day When At Dinner-Time Some One Said "Dandy"
And Held Up A Glass Of Beer, Instead Of Wagging His Tail As Usual He
Dropped It Between His Legs And Turned Away In Evident Disgust.
And
from that time onward he would never touch it with his tongue, and it
was plain that when
They tried to tempt him, setting beer before him
and smilingly inviting him to drink, he knew they were mocking him, and
before turning away he would emit a low growl and show his teeth. It
was the one thing that put him out and would make him angry with his
friends and life companions.
I should not have related this incident if Dandy had been alive. But he
is no longer with us. He was old - half-way between fifteen and sixteen:
it seemed as though he had waited to see the end of the war, since no
sooner was the armistice proclaimed than he began to decline rapidly.
Gone deaf and blind, he still insisted on taking several
constitutionals every day, and would bark as usual at the gate, and if
no one came to let him out or admit him, he would open it for himself
as before. This went on till January, 1919, when some of the boys he
knew were coming back to Penzance and to the house. Then he established
himself on his sofa, and we knew that his end was near, for there he
would sleep all day and all night, declining food.
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