Man versus dog.

Mr. Burroughs staid to tea, and, while it was being prepared, strolled with Karl about the little farm; looked at the Alderney cow, the Suffolk pigs, the span of Morgan horses named Pope and Pagan; quietly sounded the depths of Capt.  Karl’s open and joyous nature, and made him talk of his cousin Dora, and reveal his love and his hopes regarding her.

“They will marry out there, and she will manage him, and make him very happy,” thought Mr. Burroughs, returning toward the farmhouse, and admiring the long slope of the mossy roof, and the clinging masses of woodbine creeping to the ridge-pole.

“You won’t make so picturesque a thing of your new home for several years to come, if ever, Mr. Windsor,” added he aloud.

“No, I suppose not; but the genius of our people is more for beginning than ending, and this old place was built by my grandfather,” said the young man.

“An excellent and most American reason for deserting it,” said Mr. Burroughs gravely; “and, if you are thinking of selling, I should like the opportunity of becoming purchaser.  This sort of thing is going out of the market, and I should like to secure a specimen before it is too late.  It is same as a picture, except that it is stationary, and one must come to it instead of carrying it away in triumph.”

“I think we may like to sell; but I must consult my sister and cousin first,” said Karl rather gravely:  for, after all, he did not just like the tone assumed by this fine city gentleman in speaking of the place that had been a home to Karl and his ancestors for more than a century.  The quick tact of the lawyer perceived the slight wound he had given, and repaired it by carelessly saying,—­

“And, besides the beauty of the place, I should be proud possessing any thing that had belonged to a grandfather.  My family has been so migratory, that I can hardly say I had a grandfather or not:  certainly I have not the remotest idea where he lived.”

Capt.  Karl laughed.

“Our family has been settled here since the days of the Pilgrims” said he; “and Kitty could show you a family chart, as large as a table-cloth, of which she is mightily proud, although I never could see any particular benefit it has been to us.”

“And Miss Dora-is she fond of recalling her ancestors and their fame? or is she satisfied with her own?” asked Mr. Burroughs.

“I don’t believe it ever occurred to her that either she or they deserved any,” said Karl, laughing.  “You never knew a creature so entirely simple and self-forgetful in your life, and yet of so wide and noble a nature.  She is never so happy as in doing good to other people.”

“But likes to do it in her own way?” suggested the lawyer pleasantly.

“Likes to do it in the best way, and her own way is sure to be that,” replied Karl somewhat decidedly; and Mr. Burroughs smiled and bowed.