But the latter's face had changed, changed magically, as though some transforming hand had touched it, wiping all the bitterness away.
He looked at Sam with a dawning smile in his eyes. "Good night, my lad!" he said. "I must go."
He went to the door with the words and opened it. There came the sound of a motor-horn without, the gay whoop of a boyish voice. Jake's spurs went jingling down the passage.
And Sam turned to leave by the garden-door by which he had entered. He crammed his cap down over his eyes as he did so. "Poor old boss!" he said. "Poor--old--boss!"
CHAPTER XXVI
THE DEED OF GIFT
"Oh, isn't it good to be home again?" said Bunny. "Isn't it just good?"
They sat before the blazing fire in the parlour after a late supper, drinking Mrs. Lovelace's rhubarb wine and enjoying the glow.
Maud's cheeks were flushed and her eyes very bright. She did not look at her husband very often, and there was that about her manner that seemed to suggest that she was striving against considerable odds to appear at her ease.
"How are the animals, Jake?" she asked. "How is The Hundredth Chance?"