Show the crime and pardon of ponto A TALK TALE or OF A DOG yes for a long time I 1 reposed the most blind conal confidence dence in him wo we loved each other dearly ila iio TV was as a set setter ter white with brown cars and tall ills his name was ponto ponta ponto was enamored of a certain wooden ball about the size of a billiard ball in a moment of weakness I 1 had purchased this one lay day and brought it homo home ponto immediately seized it rolled it toward mo me and said throw that over thero there in the rosebush roso busbea eq I 1 will and it you sec it if I 1 dont so said so done the ball was thrown and ponto found it but ho he became rather irksome with his desire to the ball because his favorite remark to me ine became play ball ile he had a fashion of comilia into my study with witha a brisk air wagging his bis tail with the ball held in his mouth then placing ills his forepaws upon this the table he would put precious ball in the middle of papers letters aud books and say there is my ball now toss loss it out of the window and I 1 will go andret and get it that will bo be very much more amusing than alian bating your time on all these stupid pa papers acis and books I 1 would frequently feign to hurl the ball from froin the window and like a 1 hash flash ponto would disappear A fuw few minutes would pass before ponto would reappear with ills his forepaws paws at the window wieclow and remi remark ark say you you man with the papers I 1 lont dont find anything here the ball in the garden you must have kept it then ho he would come lit in at the door go knilling sn illing around under the furniture and in the partly opened desk drawers ind and then with the air of a man inari who smites his forehead and discovers something lie he would look inquiringly at you ind and say 1 I will wager that it is on oil the table lie he was right with his intelligent eye lie he lad had followed your glance if you attempted then to Col conceal leeal tile ball there was an end to work ile burs bur tinte stints extravagant extra gaiety gayety jumped after the ball followed your least movements and would not quit you la laughing energetically with liis ills tail finto ponto made me ins sometimes think that lie he was one of those men tu turned arned into dogs clogs of whom nhom we read 1 in n the fairy stories ills his eye was deep tender ind and human bunian arid and at times it see seemed enod to say what would you I 1 am only a I 1 four footed beast but I 1 have a human heart a better one than that of many men inen I 1 arn am a beast and I 1 have much I 1 suffer still because I 1 cannot express myself in speech and tell tel lyou you lit in those things that you call woi words ds my fidelity ind and my devotion yes I 1 am yours and I 1 love you like a log dog whatever balon belongs s to you is secure just jus t let anybody touch it and you will see sec dut but ponto and I 1 fell out one lay day it was a very unfortunate affair only those people who like myself believe blindly in dogs will understand mo 1110 this is what happened the cook lad had killed two chickens and had h ad gone into the adjoining pantry to get a basket to put the feathers in as 1 s she plucked when she blie returned to the kit kitchen chert she uttered a shriek one ot of the two chickens was gone yet she had been absent but a few millu cutca tes ah ab i said tile the cook reflectively evidently some beggar has passed by here and has taken 0 one tie of the chickens through the window she looked out of a f the door in order to find the supposititious beggar but there was nobody there then for a moment she thought it must be tile log dog but she was it at once seized with remorse what suspect ponto never lie would not steal why lie he would watch over a leg lear of mutton ill all day without touching it even when ho he was perishing with hunger besides Deside she he was there in the kit kitchen dhen sitting on liis ills haunches with his eyes partly closed arid and occasionally sio nally yawning lie ire was not thinking of chickens the rho cook was so profoundly puzzled that she summoned lier her master and abild I 1 carne came the melancholy affair was laid before me ine I 1 looked atI at pen lonto to ponto polito was war sitting bitting there with a studied air of indifference apparently half asleep I 1 called him ponto I 1 lie I 1 e looked toward nic me and lifted his heavy eyelids iid did you call luc ine master I 1 was nas only asleep I 1 was dreaming I 1 wa was S dreaming of iny fiill 17 or of liis his liall ball eh I 1 bedaine it at once suspicious this Is evidently a I 1 pretext hut but I 1 said 1 I think Mathei inc that you ire aru right tile the doy clog could not lot have stolen tho the chicken it if lip lio had stolen it lie he would lie be engaged now in pluck inge it in ill the garden 11 nut bul look at him sir just lork look at hill ilo ile has not dof the air of a acunis chi Is tian dor do 11 what III 1 I say that thai ponto has not an honest air I 1 turned and gazed at him look at me ponto ponto looked up but h his Is lend head drooped and he grumbled do u you think hat bat I 1 would bo be hanging banging around here if I 1 ahad had stolen a chicken why id be eating it but this remark lid did not divert toy my suspicions on the contrary it ft cort confirmed them katherine katherinc said 1 I solemnly to the cook it is ponto alas it is ponto 11 what I 1 had seen in pontos eyes was terrible I 1 swear to you reader that I 1 am most serious 1 had distinctly seen therean there an almost human lie it ii i i rather difficult cult to explain my meaning punto ponto wished to assume an all appearance appearance of sincerity in ills his glance ind and lie he lid did not succeed lie be causo caliso that is impossible even to a 11 man illan it is said by profound ahers that lit in men the power of lying lylia is ia confined to speech that the power powe r of throwing falsehood into agh a glance ance is pos lessed only by v women ponto exhausted himself in vain efforts to lie with liis ills eyes MIL hut this unsuccessful falsehood was even more incriminating than an avowal I 1 looked fixedly at ponto ponta here ponto 11 said 1 take this and I 1 offered him tho second chicken which catherino Kath crino erino had just finished plucking ponto looked at me ine reflectively ilum he said evidently you sus poet me ine why do you give i rue me i 1 chicken today to day flay you meaer gave me mea whole chicken iio ho took tile the chicken in fit his and immediately deposited it on the floor at my iny feet and looking up lip in my iny eyes lie he said you insist inest think I 1 ani am a fool instinctively I 1 said to myself thief thic f I 1 scoundrel rel you have betrayed me ine you are a perfidious dos dog your honest canine existence of if loyalty has DOW conie come to an end and you have been as falso as if yon were only 1 a I man but patting liviu on oil the back I 1 added gadded aloud joud good ponto honest honest ponto ron to nice ponta donlo this dissimulation was rather too deep for ponto bionto urged on oil by tile tho savory smell of tho chicken lie he took it between his jaws and started to go TO but before lie he i cached beached the door lie he turned several times and looked it at tile me carefully in order to see it if he could fathom my thoughts As soon as lie lad had left the hite kitchen lien I 1 closed the door arid and began spying upon him th through roligh 0 the blinds of tho window lie he went a few paces as it if intending to devour ills his prey and then stopped placed ills his chicken on the ground ind and then thought deeply for a long C time several times lie ho looked at the kitchen door with ills bli false and treacherous ons eye then giving up all attempts to seek an ex explanation plana tion satisfactory to his mind lie he contented himself with the fact that ho he had the chicken picked it up anci ana departed As lie he disappeared in the distance I 1 could see sec that his bomell win etline mc timid tall tail which had hesitated throughout our entire conversation had again become hold and larin pontos tall said ilah I 1 have both chickens nobody saw me take use tile lirt one hurrah I 1 stealthily Killo follo him from afar and I 1 surprised him in the act of hastily scratching sera I 1 nga a hole in tho the ground with his powerful forepaws forc paws the chicken that I 1 had given him wis was lying on the ground ind and in ill tile hole which lie bo was wa digging 1 I irvi jig lay the other chicken I 1 was lit livirt art broken my aly friend conw retained the instincts of his remote ancestor the foxes foxe and the sand buried his provisions but alas being si a domesticated animal and ha havling lo 10 become the companion of munki inan kind nil he had learnel learned to lie under the eyes of the treacherous arid and now shamefaced shame ic faced ponto I 1 made up lip 1 si I little package of the longer the two chickens and I 1 debusi deposited ted th this is I 1 little I 1 atle feather d duitch tater on oil my iny corking working table whenever thereafter I 1 wai wa i ariga engaged ed at aud and bouto caine to nic me Irlin bringing rilly ills his ball and said with i light an and d easy all air come come lay aside that i and let us play ball I 1 would invariably lift tile little fel lither feather luster duster then ponto bonto would deop his treacherous head ills his tail would sink between liis legs aud adhere to his quivering belly while the lull ball would fall from his nerveless jaws As lie looked at nic me say Is it possible that you are arc so ruthless so unforgiving le do you never dever pardon works p issod wid I 1 had not yet pardoned punto but lie was likable in hiis tiis to win tile nic over so one olle morning lio 11 e canie canic to lo me die again and when I 1 tile little feather duster and poor ponto vias as ahdout to withdraw I 1 said to lalni look ponto JL onlo 1 I look upon this for the laatt iino thus poll bet tile only token of your fault and I 1 hurled the feather duster into the fire watched the fe aLlier buin then with otil any hysteric t ric manifestations of joy without leaps or lul but nobly simply sini ily with dignity lie ho came and proffered ills paw tlc alc cililo was forgotten wu we were friends again ponto was glad thit that liu be bail been forgiven iltis lie iva was nul lot near nearly lyso so glad gid as I 1 that I 1 lad had borgi forgiven 0 ven b ailin rielly l adapted for by deroule A hart |