Yes, Lad was old. And he was a bit unwieldy from weight and from
age. No longer could he lead Wolf and Bruce in the forest rabbit
chases. Wherefore he stayed at home, for the most part and seldom
strayed far from the Mistress and the Master whom he worshiped.
Moreover, he deputed the bulk of trespass-repelling to his fiery
little son, Wolf; and to the graver and sweeter Bruce;--"Bruce,
the Beautiful."
Which brings us by needfully prosy degrees to a morning, when two
marauders came to the Place at the same time, if by different
routes. They could not well have come at a more propitious time,
for themselves; nor at a worse time for those whose domain they
visited.
Bruce and Wolf had trotted idly off to the forest, back of the
Place, for a desultory ramble in quest of rabbits or squirrels.
This they had done because they were bored. For, the Mistress and
the Master had driven over for the morning mail; and Lad had gone
with them, as usual. Had it been night, instead of morning,
neither Wolf nor Bruce would have stirred a step from the
grounds.
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