I told him I would make some flapjacks, and he acted tickled to death.

He doesn't get a decent thing to eat once in a dog's age.

Hurry and get washed.
The flapjacks are about done, and I don't want them to get cold." Henry's face, which had fallen a little when he learned that Horace had not returned, still looked brighter than before.

While Sidney Meeks never let him have the last word, yet he was much better than Sylvia as a safety-valve for pessimism.

Meeks was as pessimistic in his way as Henry, although he handled his pessimism, as he did everything else, with diplomacy, and the other man had a secret conviction that when he seemed to be on the opposite side yet he was in reality pulling with the lawyer.
Sidney Meeks was older than Henry, and as unsuccessful as a country lawyer can well be.