[ Cooper / Elinor Wyllys ]
This novel's first reference to Newfoundlands is in Vol. 1, Chapter 4, in a comment on small-town life:
One has some acquaintance with everybody, from the clergyman to the loafer; few are the faces that one does not know. Even the four-footed animals of the neighbourhood are not strangers: this is the Doctor's Newfoundland dog; that is some old lady's tortoise-shell cat.
A dog named Bruno is mentioned briefly 3 times in Volume 1 of this novel, but not until Chapter 19 of Volume 2 do we learn Bruno is a Newfoundland:
When Elinor went down for dinner she found Ellsworth and Harry on the piazza playing with Bruno, the fine Newfoundland dog which Hazlehurst had given her when he first went abroad.
"He is a noble creature!" exclaimed Ellsworth.
"I am making friends with Bruno again, you see," said Harry as Elinor drew near. "What would you say if I coaxed him off to the Petrel with me to-morrow?"
"You are very welcome to his company for the voyage, if you can persuade him to go. Down Bruno, down my good friend," she said,
as the dog bounded towards her; "I wish you would remember that a thin white dress must be treated with some respect."
Bruno is mentioned again in Chapter 21; during a storm at sea, his master and another man seem to have drowned, and it is Bruno who leads others to their bodies, although it later turns out that his master survived. Bruno is referenced in Chapter 22 in connection with that rescue:
"I must not forget to tell you, love, that we owe a great deal to another friend of ours," said Harry, smiling. "You will be glad to hear that Bruno behaved nobly; he first discovered the ropes in which we were entangled."
"Bruno! -- Where is my noble dog? Pray call him; let me see him!"
Harry went to the door, and there was Bruno lying across the threshold, as if waiting to be admitted; he came in at Harry's
call, but not with his usual bound; he seemed to understand that if his old master had been saved, his master's friend was lost. The noble creature was much caressed by Miss Wyllys and Elinor; and we are not ashamed to confess that the latter kissed him more than once. At length, Miss Agnes observing that her niece was very much recovered, rose from her seat, and stooping to kiss Elinor's forehead, placed her hand in that of Harry, saying with much feeling, as she joined them, "God bless you, my children!" and then left the room.
As for what passed after Miss Agnes left her young friends, we cannot say; Bruno was the only witness to that interview between
Harry and Elinor, and as Bruno was no tell-tale, nothing has ever transpired on the subject.