"Never mind the dog," he said, "let it scratch."
"I thought," said Garnet, "we were going to shut it up somewhere?"
"Go out and shut it into the dining room, then. Personally, I mean to
have some tea. Millie, you know how to light a fire. Garnet and I will
be collecting cups and things. When that scoundrel Beale arrives, I
shall tear him limb from limb. Deserting us like this! The man must be
a thorough fraud. He told me he was an old soldier. If this was the
sort of discipline they used to keep in his regiment, I don't wonder
that the service is going to the dogs. There goes a plate! How is the
fire getting on, Millie? I'll chop Beale into little bits. What's that
you've got there, Garny, old horse? Tea? Good! Where's the bread?
There! Another plate. Look here, I'll give that dog three minutes, and
if it doesn't stop scratching that door by then, I'll take the bread
knife and go out and have a soul-to-soul talk with it. It's a little
hard. My own house, and the first thing I find in it when I arrive is
somebody else's beastly dog scratching holes in the doors. Stop it,
you beast!"
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