One night he lapped his new milk as usual at Uncle Roger 's dairy door and then sat blandly on the flat stone before it , giving the world assurance of a cat , sleek sides glistening , plumy tail gracefully folded around his paws , brilliant eyes watching the stir and flicker of bare willow boughs in the twilight air above him . That was the last seen of him . In the morning he was not . At first we were not seriously alarmed . Paddy was no roving Thomas , but occasionally he vanished for a day or so . But when two days passed without his return we became anxious , the third day worried us greatly , and the fourth found us distracted . `` Something has happened to Pat , '' the Story Girl declared miserably . `` He never stayed away from home more than two days in his life . '' `` What could have happened to him ? '' asked Felix . `` He 's been poisoned -- or a dog has killed him , '' answered the Story Girl in tragic tones . Cecily began to cry at this ; but tears were of no avail . Neither was anything else , apparently . We searched every nook and cranny of barns and out-buildings and woods on both the King farms ; we inquired far and wide ; we roved over Carlisle meadows calling Paddy 's name , until Aunt Janet grew exasperated and declared we must stop making such exhibitions of ourselves . But we found and heard no trace of our lost pet . The Story Girl moped and refused to be comforted ; Cecily declared she could not sleep at night for thinking of poor Paddy dying miserably in some corner to which he had dragged his failing body , or lying somewhere mangled and torn by a dog . We hated every dog we saw on the ground that he might be the guilty one . `` It 's the suspense that 's so hard , '' sobbed the Story Girl . `` If I just knew what had happened to him it would n't be QUITE so hard . But I do n't know whether he 's dead or alive .
He may be living and suffering , and every night I dream XXXXX he has come home and when I wake up and find it 's only a dream it just breaks my heart . ''
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