I have a very intelligent and experienced brach hound, the same which with the bitch had to face the attack of the wolf.  He amuses me much at my country lunches.  Hunting dogs which have been much with their masters at lunch do not like to have the drinking glass offered them.  This dog was much afraid of the glass, and I had only to present it to him at lunch time to make him keep his distance.  I used to keep my door open at lunch, for the amusement of observing how I could make him stop exactly at the threshold without stepping over it.  If he had passed over it I could always send him back by casting toward him a few drops of water from the bottom of the glass after drinking.  Sitting, as was his habit, on the sill of the door, with the tip of his muzzle never extending beyond the plane of the panels, he would follow my motions with the closest attention, reminding me, if I failed to give him a sign of attention, by a discreet, plaintive cry, that he was there.  But if I touched my glass, he would spring up at once; if I filled it, he would put himself on guard, utter a kind of sigh, sneeze, lick his lips, yawn, and, shaking his ears briskly, make little stifled cries.  Then he would grow impatient, and more and more watchful and nervous.  When I lifted my glass to my lips he would draw back, working gradually nearer to the farther door, and at last disappear and hide.  One who was looking at him without seeing me could tell by his wails and his attitude the level and position of my glass.  When the glass was horizontal, I could see only about half of his head, with one eye regarding me fixedly, for that was usually the critical moment—­the one, also, when the wails and restraints were most demonstrative of the anxious fear of my poor animal.

When we dine in the kitchen, which is on the ground floor, the dogs are usually all put out.  There are four of them, three young and not experienced, and this old, sagacious brach hound.  He insists on coming in, and, to gain his purpose, tries to have the door opened.  Although no person may be coming up the walk, he dashes down it barking, all the others going along too and yelping with him; then he stops, remains a little behind after having got the others out of the way, and, turning his head from moment to moment, looks to see if the door has been opened, for we generally go to it to see who has come.  In that case the feigned attack is successful, and the dog, who has evidently meant to give the alarm so as to have the door opened, comes in at once and claims a place at the table.  He has accomplished his end, for the door is usually shut without paying attention to his having got in.  I have frequently witnessed this stratagem, and when, during my kitchen dinner, I suddenly hear the dogs yelping after the brach hound has begun, I am pretty sure that nobody is in sight.