More company came after that. It was in the Fall, when the leaves were turning to beautiful colours and falling off the trees and when the mornings and nights were quite cool and the best place to take a nap was in the stable where the sun shone warmly on the floor. Freya and I were about six months old then and were getting to be pretty big for puppies. We weren’t as big as Father or Mother, but when we with either of them Freya and I together could do just about as we pleased with them. Lots of times Mother used to run away from us because we were so strong that we could roll her over on her back and bite her and shake her until she .  
 
Others had grown up, too. All the little yellow chicks that Freya and I used to watch through the chicken yard wires were quite big, almost as big as their parents. And all the little ducklings had grown up into ducks and could say “Quack!” just like their mothers and fathers. In the garden the flowers had gone, all but a few, and it was a great relief to me. I was always very fond of flowers and liked to pick them and eat them, but William didn’t like me to and would get after me whenever he caught me at it. I got a lot of cuffings on account of my love for flowers. I couldn’t understand why it was they were so selfish with them when they had so many. It seemed to me that one or two more or less would not have made any difference. But Two-Legged Folks are in many ways. They aren’t nearly so sensible as dogs.
 
Even the Baby was getting bigger and older. She could talk quite nicely by Fall, although you had to listen very closely to understand all she said. You see, she talked very quickly and ran her words together. It was the Baby who told me about the company coming. It was one morning on the . The screens had been taken off then and the Baby and I were in the hammock together. Freya didn’t like the hammock. She said it made her feel funny inside when it swung. I did, though. It was full of nice soft cushions and I was very proud when I found one day that I could jump up on it all by myself and didn’t have to be lifted up or pulled up any more. Well, the Baby and I were there together, swinging, and she was pulling my ears the way she liked to do, and chatting all the time. I wasn’t paying very much attention to what she was saying because I was a little bit sleepy. It always makes me sleepy to have my ears pulled. Well, pretty soon the Baby said:
 
“Booful little boy’s coming to play wiv Mild’ed. All way f’om City. Coming to-day, I dess.”
 
I up my ears then. At least, I pricked up one of them, the one that wasn’t being pulled. I had never seen a little boy very near, but I had heard Mother speak of them and from what she had said I didn’t think I should like them. So I didn’t look very pleased at what the Baby said. Perhaps she saw it, for she went on:
 
“Is very nice little boy. Is coming all way f’om City to play wiv Mild’ed. Little boy’s name is A’fed.”
 
I thought Afed was a very silly name for any one, even a boy. I found out afterwards that his name was Alfred, but I didn’t like it much better. I hoped he would be nicer than his name. The Baby talked on about him for a long time and I pretended to listen. Finally I got tired hearing about him and jumped down and went away. I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to like A’fred, and when I told Freya she made up her mind she wasn’t going to like him either. We that we would bite his legs when he came.
 
William drove to the railway station to meet Alfred and his mother, and Freya went along. William was very partial to Freya and used to take her with him quite often. He took me once and said he would never do it again because I barked at everything I saw and fell out of the carriage. I didn’t mean to fall out, though, and it hurt a good deal. Anyhow, he took Freya with him that day and I found a warm place on a flower bed beside the house and waited for them to come back. William didn’t like to have us lie on the flower beds, even after the flowers were through blooming, but I knew he wouldn’t see me and I meant to go away when I heard the carriage coming up the drive.
 
But it was so warm there and the earth smelled so nice that I fell asleep. When I woke up the first thing I did was to howl and the next thing to run. Because William had come back without my hearing him and had crept over to me, and what had wakened me up was the carriage whip! I thought it was rather a mean thing to surprise me like that. When I had stopped hurting and running I looked back and there was the little boy with Freya in his arms going into the house. And, would you believe it, Freya was actually licking his face! Isn’t that like a girl-dog, to break her promise the very first thing? Just pat Freya and she thinks you are lovely and follows you all around. For my part, I’d have more self-respect and pride. Folks can’t make friends with me by just patting my head and saying “Nice doggie!” No, sir!
 
I was quite disgusted with Freya and I told her so later.
 
Alfred’s mother was a very sweet looking lady and I knew right away I should like her. I did, too. Not two hours afterwards she came out to see us and fed us drops. I am very fond of peppermint drops because they make your tongue feel sort of cold and tingley, and I liked the lady at once. Oh, not just because of the candy, of course, but because she was nice to look at and understood dogs and loved them. We can tell right off whether a person likes us. Alfred came out with his mother, and the Baby followed Alfred. She wouldn’t let him out of her sight and paid almost no attention to me. Alfred was really rather nice looking, for a boy, with golden hair, dark eyes and a sun-burned face. He was older than the Baby. When he saw me he cried:
 
“Oh, there’s another of them! Come here, puppy! What’s your name?”
 
Of course I paid no to him. I meant to show Freya that I had more sense than to to folks just because they whistled to me and paid me a little attention! When he saw that I didn’t mean to come to him he started after me, and I showed my teeth and . He stopped then and made a face at me. “You’re not as nice as the other one,” he said. Then he picked up a and threw it at me and I growled again. “What’s this one’s name, Mildred?” he asked the Baby.
 
“He name F’itz. Him booful dogums!”
 
Alfred laughed. “Fits! That’s a funny name, isn’t it? Does he have them often?”
 
“She means Fritz, dear,” said his mother. “Here, Fritz, come and see me.”
 
So I went, but I wouldn’t let Alfred touch me, and he didn’t like it a bit. He fed candy to Freya and she fairly licked his shoes! Girl-dogs have no pride. It so disgusted me that I turned right around and went down............