He meditatively cleared his throat, took a sip of
brandy and water, for he had long ago lost his genteel affiliations with
tea, and hopefully opened the subject of his mission.
A change fell upon the scene, instant, definite, complete. In the mere
broaching of business it might seem that beauty and charm are but
tenuous at best, and powerless to subdue the fiercer nature of man when
his acquisitive and aggressive commercial instincts are aroused. One of
the most devout admirers of Peninnah Penelope Anne tossed his head with
a very bellicose and bovine obduracy when he intimated an incredulity of
the statement that the herd had been stampeded without an ulterior
motive of malice or nefarious profit. The gentle soul who had assumed
the tendance and protection of the fawn held down as he listened a
shaggy intent head, like that of a bull about to charge, at the mere
mention of the shooting of the wolf. In fact, the suggestion of shadowy
monsters which the dusky flicker and evanescent flare of the fire
fostered and which was intensified by the proximity of open jaws, sharp
fangs, heavy muzzles, and standing bristles amongst them, owed much of
its effect to the unanimous expression of truculent challenge and averse
disfavor.
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