The varlets crowded about him with tender, soothing words, while we in the other room anxiously watched them and the clock.
He was overcome, it seemed, by the affection which it now transpired that Little Arcady bore for him.

Presently he half dried his tears and drew from an inner pocket of his coat the package of our letters.
With eyes again streaming, in a sob-riven voice, he read them all to the pleased crowd.

At the end, he regained control of himself.
"Gentlemen, believe it or not, nothing has touched me like this since I bade farewell to my regiment in '65.

You are getting under the heart of Jonas Rodney this time--I can't deny that." He began on the letters again, selecting the choicest, and not forgetting at intervals to rebuke the bar-tender for alleged inactivity.
At last the clock marked ten-forty, and we heard the welcome rumble of the 'bus wheels.

There was a hurried consultation with Amos Deane, the driver.