Because she's very happy as she is,--her face has all the lovely beauty of perfect content--and I'd rather do anything than trouble her peace." There followed a pause.

The fire crackled and burned with a warm Christmas glow, and Charlie, uncurling his soft silky body, stretched out each one of his tiny paws separately, with slow movements expressive of intense comfort.

If ever that little dog had known what it was to lie in the lap of luxury amid aristocratic surroundings, it was certain that he was conscious of being as well off in a poor cottage as in a palace of a king.

And after a minute or two, Helmsley raised himself in his chair and held out his hand to Angus Reay, who grasped it warmly.
"I'll do my best,"-- he said, quietly--"I know what you mean--and I think your feeling does you honour.

Of course you know I'm only a kind of stranger here--just a poor old lonely man, very dependent on Miss Deane for her care of me, and trying my best to show that I'm not ungrateful to her for all her goodness--and I mustn't presume too far--but--I'll do my best.