"Quick!" said the boy.
"Poddle," the woman lied, "I love you!"
Then came the Dog-faced Man's one brief flash of ecstasy—expressed in a wondrous glance of joy and devotion: but a swiftly fading fire.
"She loves me!" he muttered.
"I do, Poddle!" the woman sobbed, willing, now, for the grotesque deception. "Yes, I do!"
"'Beauty,'" Mr. Poddle gasped, "'and the Beast!'"
They listened intently. He said no more.... Soon the sunbeam glorified the smiling face....
