As he was one of those gormands who decline no good thing, he affably
accepted Archie's offering, so graciously indeed that the little fellow
called for another ear of corn more amply to relieve the porcine
distresses, the detail of which had much appealed to his tender heart. It
seemed as if the choice of the good Mr. Briscoe lay between the fiction
of riding an endless race or playing the Samaritan to the afflicted pig,
when in the midst of Archie's noisy beatitudes sleep fell upon him
unaware, like a thief in the night. As he waited for the groom to
reappear with the second relay of refreshments, Briscoe felt the tense
little body in his clasp grow limp and collapse; the eager head with its
long golden curls drooped down on his shoulder; the shout, already
projected on the air, quavered and failed midway, giving place to a
deep-drawn sigh, and young Royston was fairly eclipsed for the night,
translated doubtless to an unexplored land of dreams where horses and
pigs and revenue officers and mountains ran riot together "in much
admired disorder.
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