SDUSD Middle Level Units of Study 12/17/07 8
(78) At noon next day Dr. and Mrs. Travers went to the Pengelly cottage to inquire how Sandy
was doing, but the report was gloomy: “Still in a very serious condition.” The twins were miserably
unhappy. They forgot that they had sometimes called their elder sister bossy and only remembered
how often she had shared her pocket money with them, how she read to them and took them for
picnics and helped with their homework. Now there was no Sandy, no Mother and Dad, Don went
around with a gray shuttered face, and worse still, there was no Lob.
(79) The Western Counties Hospital is a large one, with dozens of different departments and five
or six connected buildings, each with three or four entrances. By that afternoon it became noticeable
that a dog seemed to have taken up position outside the hospital, with the fixed intention of getting
in. Patiently he would try first one entrance and then another, all the way around, and then begin
again. Sometimes he would get a little way inside, following a visitor, but animals were of course,
forbidden, and he was always kindly but firmly turned out again. Sometimes the guard at the main
entrance gave him a pat or offered him a bit of sandwich—he looked so wet and beseeching and
desperate. But he never ate the sandwich. No one seemed to own him or to know where he came
from; Plymouth is a large city and he might have belonged to anybody.
(80) At tea time Granny Pearce came through the pouring rain to bring a flask of hot tea with
brandy in it to her daughter and son-in-law. Just as she reached the main entrance the guard was
gently but forcibly shoving out a large, agitated, soaking-wet Alsatian dog.
(81) “No, old fellow, you can not come in. Hospitals are for people, not for dogs.”
(82) “Why, bless me,” exclaimed old Mrs. Pearce. “That’s Lob! Here, Lob, Lobby boy!”
(83) Lob ran to her, whining. Mrs. Pearce walked up to the desk.
(84) “I’m sorry, madam, you can’t bring that dog in here,” the guard said.
(85) Mrs. Pearce was a very determined old lady. She looked the porter in the eye.
(86) “Now, see here, young man. That dog has walked twenty miles from St. Killan to get to my
granddaughter. Heaven knows how he knew she was here, but it’s plain he knows. And he ought to
have his rights! He ought to get to see her! Do you know,” she went on, bristling, “that dog has
walked the length of England—twice—to be with that girl? And you think you can keep him out
with your fiddling rules and regulations?”
(87) “I’ll have to ask the medical officer,” the guard said weakly.
(88) “You do that, young man.” Granny Pearce sat down in a determined manner, shutting her
umbrella, and Lob sat patiently dripping at her feet. Every now and then he shook his head, as if to
dislodge something heavy that was tied around his neck.