Rose looked at Mr. Duffy sitting there with his hand on Henry’s head, and for the first time she had a little glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, Mavis’s plan had worked.
Maybe all that great guilt-tripping had convinced Mr. Duffy to keep Henry.
But that glimmer disappeared when Mr. Duffy said, “Y’all know this dog has to go back where he belongs, don’t you?”
And then, of course, Mavis had jumped in, the way Mavis always jumped in, reminding Mr. Duffy that Henry was up for adoption and needed a home.
Rose was afraid Mr. Duffy was going to start talking about how he was too old to get another dog, but that didn’t happen.
Instead, Henry lifted his head off Mr. Duffy’s lap and walked over to Queenie’s bed and lay down.
The little gatehouse grew quiet while Rose and Mavis and Mr. Duffy looked at Henry curled up on Queenie’s bed, already fast asleep.
He looked so peaceful there on the fluffy round bed with QUEENIE embroidered in blue.
Rose’s mind raced.
Would Mr. Duffy get mad at Henry for sleeping in Queenie’s bed?
Would he wake him up and tell him to get off that bed? It wasn’t his bed.
But Mr. Duffy didn’t do that.
What he did do was look at Rose and Mavis and say, “I’ve got to call Wonderland to come get that dog.”