Could he be blamed if he sought (and found) elsewhere affection and confidence?
Why, these morning rides were as good as a bone.

She talked to him, told him her secrets (secrets he swore on a dog's bible never to reveal!) and desires, and fed him chicken, and cuddled him.

There were times when he realized that old age was upon him; some of these canters left him breathless and groggy.
"I've been thinking, boy," the master's voice went on.

"New York isn't so much, after all.

I wasn't city born, and there are times when the flowing gold of the fields and the cool woods call.