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 "There never was any thing prettier than the way you an' him have been keeping together," she ventured once to remark, ungrammatically but earnestly. "It's like a book."

"But there never was any body else like Gerald—in or out of a book," Touchtone answered, simply, blushing. For if facts were on his lips his inner sentiments, as a general thing, were not.

"Well, I only hope that you'll have a long life together without no kind of quarrels between you, nor troubles after these, my lad," said Obed, stroking the dog's head as Towzer lay beside his chair. "You've begun to make friendship the way it 'd ought to be made, an' as it's grown older it 'd ought to be of a kind that aint common in this part o' the world, so far as I've had opportunity to jedge."

"I hope so, too," responded Touchtone, soberly. Yes, and he believed it. His "old head on young shoulders" for one moment pictured in flashing succession years to come at Gerald's side, himself his best friend ever, to companion and care for him. Or, would the future bring differences, quarrels, a breaking apart for them, and only thorns from this