"Lady Jane was a cousin of my father's who was one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, and a very grand lady she was, indeed. She always came with so many boxes and bundles that we boys had a sort of feeling it would be polite for us to move out and give the house to her, and she also made us feel that everything she said must be obeyed, because she represented the Queen, and we had been brought up to be very good and loyal subjects. So you can imagine how I felt one day when she said to me: 'Tom, I'm going to take your little dog back with me as a present for her Majesty. You've trained her so nicely, and you won't care, will you? I'll send you something else in its place.'
"My very heart stood still at these words. Lady Jane had a way of having her own way if she wanted it, and none of us could stand out against her, and so I went to my mother about it. 'She wouldn't take Lassie, _would_ she, mother?' I said, looking into her eyes to try to read there what she thought. And my mother said of course not, and comforted me, and I went off for a long walk and tried to think no more about it. But I couldn't help but feel uneasy, and after that I kept my dog out of the way as much as possible until in a little while Lady Jane seemed to have forgotten her. She was away nearly all the time--on excursions or visiting at the great houses in the neighborhood--so that we children seldom saw her, and by-and-by the last evening of her stay came.
"There were fine doings at our house that night. I can see the big hall now with a roaring fire in the chimney-place at one end, throwing its light over the deer-heads and odd birds and trophies with which the walls were hung. And the Highlanders came up with their bagpipes and played for us all to dance Sir Roger de Coverley up and down the polished floor, and Lady Jane and my father danced a jig, and my sisters sang, and I put Lassie through her tricks, and made her perform the celebrated double somerset, which was the last trick I had taught her. Everybody laughed, Lady Jane the most of all, and then she kissed us children good-night and bade us good-by, and I went up stairs happy. For Lady Jane would be gone in the morning; her trunks were strapped and in the front hall now, and I went to sleep with Lassie curled up by me, and a lighter heart than I had since the day when she first spoke to me about the dog.