Page:Jepson--Pollyooly.djvu/173

 tremendous; and he accomplished it with a succession of ear-splitting yells which would have done credit to a locomotive.

When at last exhaustion suddenly fell on him, he stopped, and said in a breathless voice, "I must give Pollyooly ten pounds, too."

"Certainly not," said Mr. James. "The possession of so much red gold would inevitably drive a child of her tender years to a course of luxurious chocolate dissipation, and for ever destroy her digestion."

"But she has saved me!" cried Mr. Hilary Vance.

"Well, buy her ten pounds' worth of clothes—her and that extraordinarily clean little brother of hers. How would you like that, Pollyooly?" said Mr. James.

"Oh, sir, it would be splendid!" said Pollyooly; and her eyes shone like stars in the tropics.

"Right! I will choose them for her myself! She shall be dressed like a dream!" cried Mr. Hilary Vance.

"A ten-pound dream," said Mr. James. "Let's have tea."