"'You have killed my Esm? I exclaimed bitterly.
"'I'm so awfully sorry,' said the young man; I keep dogs myself,
so I know what you must feel about it I'll do anything I can in
reparation.'
"'Please bury him at once,' I said; that much I think I may ask of
you.'
"'Bring the spade, William,' he called to the chauffeur.
Evidently hasty roadside interments were contingencies that had
been provided against.
"The digging of a sufficiently large grave took some little time.
'I say, what a magnificent fellow,' said the motorist as the
corpse was rolled over into the trench. 'I'm afraid he must have
been rather a valuable animal.'
"'He took second in the puppy class at Birmingham last year,' I
said resolutely.
"Constance snorted loudly.
"'Don't cry, dear,' I said brokenly; 'it was all over in a,
moment. He couldn't have suffered much.'
"'Look here,' said the young fellow desperately, 'you simply must
let me do something by way of reparation.'
"I refused sweetly, but as he persisted I let him have my address.
"Of course, we kept our own counsel as to the earlier episodes of
the evening. Lord Pabham never advertised the loss of his hyaena;
when a strictly fruit-eating animal strayed from his park a year
or two previously he was called upon to give compensation in
eleven cases of sheep-worrying and practically to re-stock his
neighbours' poultry-yards, and an escaped hyaena would have
mounted up to something on the scale of a Government grant.
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