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you’d have much need for a dog.”
    Agnes was surprised. Will Dameron kept the houses of Scofields fairly well supplied from the farm with poultry and eggs and even a nice roast of pork or beef now and then, although Robert so disapproved of Lily accepting these gifts during rationing that Agnes became the conduit through which all sorts of things made their way into Lily’s household. And she and Lily had always put up plenty of fruit and vegetables from the garden Robert had tended with absorbed passion since long before the war began. In fact, one summer day she and Lily had been so engrossed in a two-handed game of canasta that, until they finished and moved from Lily’s screened porch into the kitchen, they hadn’t realized that the top had blown off the pressure cooker, plastering the ceiling and walls with bits of peeled tomatoes. But maybe Robert really didn’t know that Agnes had ample food for herself and one medium-size dog.
    “Oh, the dog won’t make any difference. You know that! Not a bit. I always have leftovers.”
    “Well, Agnes.” He sat at ease for a few moments, drawing on his pipe. “But a dog can be a good deal of trouble. They can get so attached to a person. You might find that he’ll want to follow along with you anywhere you go.”
    “That’s true. That’s exactly what he did this morning. I felt like Mary and her little lamb! I didn’t even know he’d followed me, and I don’t have any idea how he got into the school. I suppose he slipped in behind one of the children. When he found me in the office, where I was turning in the midterm attendance . . . the evaluations, too, I had to explain to Mrs. Daniels that he’d had a bath before I even gave him breakfast. And that’s a good deal more than she could say for most of my pupils. But it was peculiar, Robert . . . he doesn’t want to play with the children. He didn’t even go outside with them at recess.” She was perplexed once more, as she remembered it. “Not even little Ernie Mullins. You know that family? They live down toward the end of May Street? They’re moving in a few days. He was Ernie’s dog, you see. But Ernie didn’t even seem to notice the dog was in the classroom. Well, Ernie’s not very noticeable himself. He doesn’t have much character . . . or substance, I guess I’d say. To tell you the truth, there’s not much to Ernie one way or another. He’s not any trouble. In fact, I have to remind myself to call on him now and then. Oh, I always have a child or two like that. Transparent children. I really think the dog wasn’t attached to that family a single bit. He just came right away with me without any sort of persuasion. Just came along as if he’d been expecting to go somewhere.”
    They both glanced over at Pup, who was watching them talk about him with his ears flat back in entreaty, and who thumped his tail and looked out from under his brow imploringly.
    Robert had done the best he could. Lily had charged him with persuading Agnes to return the dog to wherever it had come from or at least to give it to a family with children. “I’m afraid it will end up running wild around Scofields,” Lily had said at breakfast. “I don’t know what’s the matter with Agnes. Except for her horses when she used to ride . . . I never thought she had any patience for animals. Pets. I can’t imagine why she brought that dog home. It’s not like her. She’s never been . . . You remember it was always Warren who was bringing home some pet or other. I always thought it was the only time Agnes ever was really annoyed with him. Well, angry. But he always thought it would be wonderful for the children. And then he’d be off traveling and Agnes would end up dealing with one disaster after another. Why would she borrow trouble for herself?”
    Robert had agreed with her. Agnes was a practical woman; she never struck him as sentimental. But after another drink and a comfortable, wide-ranging conversation in