The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-08-13
Whose Pup?
By JESSIE DOUGLAS


t9. 1920. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate. :,
Camilla hastily stepped out of hel
little gray Bingham dress and cross
Ing the room on tiptoe opened hel
closet door and slipped out the pinl
and white dress with the short sleeves
and the ruffies around the skirt.
She listened almost breathlessly fol
a complaining voice below to cry
Camilla Camilla |" as she wres.
tied with button in the middle Of her
back. She was safei Still on tiptoes
She went across the floor and down the
stairs, to be greeted at the bannister
head by an ecstatic, wriggling body of
soft brown fur.
"Binks," Camilla whispered, twill
you be good If take you out? Very
good?"
The little dog stuck out its long
pink tongue and tried to cover Ca
milla's hand with wet kisses.
Come on, then! !" Camilla closed
the door behind her as though she
were a thief, so softly, so stealthily.
But once down the steep white path
. With the white gate swung behind her,
she began to run lightly and gayly
along the country road.
Binks was just as gay. He made
circles in quest of his tail and chased
imaginary cats and darted about like
a small prisoner set free.
She found herself thinking with a
strange, homesick longing Of that home
that she had left month ago. That
careless, happy, laughing household,
with Ted and Winnie, Ellen and the
baby for constant companionship.
but I'll never let them known she
said aloud; "come on, Binks, that isn't
rabbit at ALL"
Aunt Emma had written that she
would like one of "the children to stay
with her for while" She had said
at the end of her letter that these
were her nearest relatives and ''that
child would find herself greatly bene-
flied some day by the arrangement"
So it was Camilla they chose to
send. Because Camilla was just
through school and Ted was needed
on the farm this summer and Winnie
was engaged and Ellen just wouldn't
go.
She crinkled her nose when she re-
membered how the days went-one so
much like another, that there was
only the calendar to tell that they
were different.
Rise at seven. Battle and Dress
Breakfast at z: 80. In silence, for Aunt
Emma did not like conversation at her
meals. Then Camilla waxed the old
mahogany In the parlor and busted
each fragile knicknack and washed
the breakfast dishes and put them
away in the white cupboard in the
dining room.
There was the porch to sweep, and
best of all, the flowers to gather in
the garden with the bees humming
about her in the sunshine, and a
large straw hat that Aunt Emma said
she must wear. For Aunt Emma
thought her freckles were common"
and it was not ladylike to have brown
hands, so she must wear old gloves.
liCIC was W uO anu
lunch to get
Camilla stopped suddenly in her
thoughts, for as far down the road
as she could see there was no brown,
wriggling furry body.
'Binks!" she called, and again:
3Binksl"
She whistled and called his name
again and again, but no funny little
mongrel pup appeared at her calling.
Camilla could have sat right down
: in the road and cried. She had found
Binks when he came shivering to the
door just few days after she had
been with Aunt Emma. Much to Aunt
Emma's disgust she had fed him and
bathed him and changed him into
soft little mischief from the whimper-
ing. tiny thing who had begged from
her.
To Camilla, Sinks was the one gay
spot in her sober life at present.
But when she trudged home an hour
later, she went alone, for Binks had
disappeared as mysteriously as he had
come.
She forgot the dress with the short
sleeves and the pink ruffles in her dis
tress. But Aunt Emma, spying her
from the porch, looked up with dis
pleasure. She was entertaining the
curate, and Camilla looked altogether
too colorful and gay and careless, with
no hat and short sleeves. .A
Aunt Emma nodded briefly, and Ca
milla going into the house did not see
the CLEAN of laughter light the young
mans eyes for moment.
But next day Binks had not re-
turned to his home. The house seemed
drearier and darker than ever, and
Aunt Emma more difficult" Camilla
thought longingly for home. and al
most decided
"I'll stick it out bit longer" she
told herself stanchly, for she knew
how hard it was just now at home. If
Winnie had new dress Ellen must