The noisy praise of those babbling humans had bothered him; and he had been glad to escape it.

Lad hated to be mauled or talked to by strangers.

But the Mistress's tremulous squeeze and her shuddering whisper of "Oh, Laddie! LADDIE!" had shown she was proud of him.

And this flattered and delighted Lad, past all measure.
He had acted on impulse.

But, from the Mistress's manner, he saw he had made a wonderful hit with her by what he had done.