"Is there anything I can do?" asked the dog.

"Oh! I do not know of anything. You must just wait."

Then Mew-Mew shut her eyes for a little more sleep.

"But Mew-Mew! Mew-Mew!" cried poor Bow-Wow, "you must not go to sleep.

Oh, Mew-Mew! I have no one to speak to but you."

"It will not help you to speak," said Mew-Mew.

"You are much too fond of your own voice; I have told you that over and over again."

"Yes, Mew-Mew, so you have. But you would not have me die, would you?

I have so many things I should like to say to you.

What will you do without me when I am gone?"

The poor little dog gave such a sad look into Mew-Mew's face, as he spoke these words, that Mew-Mew did not quite know what to say.

To tell the truth, though she tried to think that she was very glad at getting rid of Bow-Wow for good and all, yet she was not quite sure about it.

After all, she did not know what she should do without him.

But she did not wish to show that she was so weak as to care for him; so when he asked "What will you do when I am gone?" she said:

"Oh! I shall do much as I do now."

And she began to wash a speck off one of her white paws.