So it was all right that they should be bigger ; but it was all wrong that they should be trimmer and better painted . Still , thought I , what else could you expect of a woman hater ? `` But Alexander Abraham evidently knows how to run a farm , even it he is a woman hater , '' I remarked to William Adolphus as I got out and tied the pony to the railing . I had driven up to the house from the back way and now I was opposite a side door opening on the veranda . I thought I might as well go to it , so I tucked William Adolphus under my arm and marched up the path . Just as I was half-way up , a dog swooped around the front corner and made straight for me . He was the ugliest dog I had ever seen ; and he did n't even bark -- just came silently and speedily on , with a business-like eye . I never stop to argue matters with a dog that does n't bark . I know when discretion is the better part of valour . Firmly clasping William Adolphus , I ran -- not to the door , because the dog was between me and it , but to a big , low-branching cherry tree at the back corner of the house . I reached it in time and no more . First thrusting William Adolphus on to a limb above my head , I scrambled up into that blessed tree without stopping to think how it might look to Alexander Abraham if he happened to be watching . My time for reflection came when I found myself perched half way up the tree with William Adolphus beside me . William Adolphus was quite calm and unruffled . I can hardly say with truthfulness what I was . On the contrary , I admit that I felt considerably upset . The dog was sitting on his haunches on the ground below , watching us , and it was quite plain to be seen , from his leisurely manner , that it was not his busy day . He bared his teeth and growled when he caught my eye . `` You LOOK like a woman hater 's dog , '' I told him . I meant it for an insult ; but the beast took it for a compliment .
Then I set myself XXXXX solving the question , `` How am I to get out of this predicament ? ''
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