ust have nearly died in the snow."

Thus Miss Maple, bitterest of spinsters, influenced, all unwitting, the
lives not only of a dog and a curate, but of the entire Cole family, and
through them, of endless generations both of dogs and men as yet unborn.
Miss Maple, sitting in her little yellow-curtained parlour drinking,
in jaundiced contentment, her afternoon's cup of tea, was, of course,
unaware of this. A good thing that she was unaware--she was quite
conceited enough already.

IV

After that smiling judgment of Mrs. Cole's, affairs were quickly
settled.

"Of course it can only be for the night, children. Father will arrange
something in the morning. Poor little thing. Where did you find him?"

"We saw him from the window," said Jeremy quickly, "and he was shivering
like anything, so we called him in to warm him."

"My dear Alice, you surely don't mean--" began Aunt Amy, and the Jampot
said: "I really think, Mum-," and Mr. Jellybrand, in his rich voice,
murmured: "Is it quite wise, dear Mrs. Cole, do you think?"

With thoughts of Miss Maple she smiled upon them all.

"Oh, for one night, I think we can manage. He seems a clean little dog,
and really we can't turn him out into the snow at once. It would be
too cruel. But mind, children, it's only for one night. He looks a good
little dog."

When the "quality" had departed, Jeremy's mind was in a confused
condition of horror and delight. Such a victory as he had won over the
Jampot, a victory that was a further stage in the fight for independence
begun on his birthday, might have very awful qualities. There would
begin now one of the Jampot's sulks--moods well known to the Cole
family, and lasting from a day to a week, according to the gravity of
the offence. Yes, they had already begun. There she sat in her chair by
the fire, sewing, sewing, her fat, roly-poly face carved into a parody
of deep displeasure. Life would be very unpleasant now. No tops of eggs,
no marmalade on toast, no skins of milk, no stories of "when I was a
young girl," no sitting up five minutes "later," no stopping in the
market-place for a talk with the banana woman--only stern insistence on
every detail of daily life; swift judgment were anything left undone or
done wrong.

Jeremy sighed; yes, it would be horrid and, for the sake of the world in
general, which meant Mary and Helen, he must see what a little diplomacy
would do. Kneeling down by the dog, he looked up into her fac