Spark Muriel. Alice Long’s Dachshunds

A short story.Alice Long is an English Catholic spinster who cares for her aging father and has the responsibility for the upkeep of a huge estate. People say of her, "Alice Long has only got her dogs. And all that upkeep." Mamie, age 8, who lives in The House even though her father no longer works on the estate, is missing her dancing lesson at the convent in order to exercise Miss Long's five dachshunds. The responsibility weighs heavily upon her, however she is persuaded by other children to tie up the dogs and come play. She loses one but retrieves it, only to notice, upon returning exhausted at the end of the afternoon to the door of Hamilton, the gamekeeper, that she is again missing a dog. But Hamilton doesn't seem to notice and gives her some whiskey. She is confused and worried all week. Then Miss Long comes by, terribly shaken, to report that Hamilton has hanged all the dogs in the priest hole, a historic landmark on the estate. After she leaves, and Mamie ascertains that all five dogs were hanged, she is relieved and begins to dance. Her mother is shocked at such a reaction , but before she has a chance to reproach her daughter, Mamie's father begins to clap his hands and sing. Nearly everyone, it seems, is indifferent to Miss Alice Long.