Bracing his strength, he turned homeward, carrying the burden between his mighty jaws.
And now, he was aware of some subtler feeling than mere desire to bring the Mistress one more gift.

His great heart had ever gone out in loving tenderness toward everything helpless and little.

He adored children.
The roughest of them could take unpardonable liberties with him.

He would let them maul and mistreat him to their heart's content; and he reveled in such usage; although to humans other than the Mistress and the Master, he was sternly resentful of any familiarity.
His senses told him this bundle contained a child;--a baby.

It had been lying alone and defenseless beside the road.