Rilla shivered ; the sound had something boding and grievous in it . She remembered that Miss Oliver said once , when they were coming home in the darkness and heard a dog howl , `` When a dog cries like that the Angel of Death is passing . '' Rilla listened with a curdling fear at her heart . It was Dog Monday -- she felt sure of it . Whose dirge was he howling -- to whose spirit was he sending that anguished greeting and farewell ? Rilla went back to bed but she could not sleep . All day she watched and waited in a dread of which she did not speak to anyone . She went down to see Dog Monday and the station-master said , `` That dog of yours howled from midnight to sunrise something weird . I dunno what got into him . I got up once and went out and hollered at him but he paid no ` tention to me . He was sitting all alone in the moonlight out there at the end of the platform , and every few minutes the poor lonely little beggar 'd lift his nose and howl as if his heart was breaking . He never did it afore -- always slept in his kennel real quiet and canny from train to train . But he sure had something on his mind last night . '' Dog Monday was lying in his kennel . He wagged his tail and licked Rilla 's hand . But he would not touch the food she brought for him . `` I 'm afraid he 's sick , '' she said anxiously . She hated to go away and leave him . But no bad news came that day -- nor the next -- nor the next . Rilla 's fear lifted .
Dog Monday howled no more and resumed his routine XXXXX train meeting and watching .
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