“To be sure!” said my aunt, patting her cheek again. “You are right.”

“You are not offended,” said Dora. “Are you?”

“Why, what a sensitive pet it is!” cried my aunt, bending over her affectionately. “To think that I could be offended!”

“No, no, I didn’t really think so,” returned Dora; “but I am a little tired, and it made me silly for a moment⁠—I am always a silly little thing, you know, but it made me more silly⁠—to talk about Jip. He has known me in all that has happened to me, haven’t you, Jip? And I couldn’t bear to slight him, because he was a little altered⁠—could I, Jip?”

Jip nestled closer to his mistress, and lazily licked her hand.

“You are not so old, Jip, are you, that you’ll leave your mistress yet?” said Dora. “We may keep one another company a little longer!”