He had every reason to expect the
same meed of praise for this new gift.
Indeed, to Lad's way of thinking, he might well hope for even
higher praise. For the parasol had been an odorless and foolish
thing of no apparent usefulness; while this basket exhaled most
heavenly scents of fried chicken and other delectable foods.
Heavy as was the burden, it did not occur to Lad to set it down.
Fragrant as were its contents, it did not occur to him to nose
the cover off and sample them. There was no tinge of snooping in
his make-up. No, the basket was a gift for the Mistress. And as
such he was bearing it home to her.
"See what Laddie brought me, this time!" cried the Mistress,
coming into her husband's study, a few minutes later, and holding
forth the trophy. "It's full of food, too; and of course he never
touched a mouthful of it. But I gave him two of the frosted
cakes, by way of reward. He's ridiculously happy over them,--and
over the fuss I made about the basket."
"H'm!" mused the Master, inspecting the present. "Jostled off the
car-seat, as some fool of a driver took the curve at top speed!
Well, that same driver has paid for his recklessness, by the loss
of his lunch.
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