In the short story Next to a Dog, Arthur Halliday is a suitor of Joyce Lambert. He loves Joyce and have proposed to her, but she doesn't love him. For that matter, she knew he didn't love her either. In her opinion, his reason for wanting her to marry him was because she had always resisted him and he would be "getting a kick out of life". She sensed something cruel or brutal in him. However by the time of the events in the story, Joyce's financial position was becoming desparate. She was unemployed and did not want to accept a position if it would prevent her from keeping her beloved dog Terry--this ruled out most residential positions and day-jobs required qualifications which she did not have. In despair, she called Arthur and agreed to marry him, but only on the condition that she could keep Terry with her. How this turns out in the end forms the main plot of the story.