Go out and amuse yourself with that blessed old lawn-mower until I come." "Yes, I think I will," said Marmaduke, seriously.

"That plot near the gate wants a trimming badly." "What a silly old chap you are, Bob!" she said, stopping to kiss him on each cheek as she left the room.
Marmaduke had become attached to the pursuit of gardening since his domestication.

He put on his hat; went out; and set to work on the plot near the gate.

The sun was shining brightly; and when he had taken a few turns with the machine he stopped, raising his face to the breeze, and saw Conolly standing so close to him that he started backward, and made a vague movement as if to ward off a blow.

Conolly, who seemed amused by the mowing, said quietly: "That machine wants oiling: the clatter prevented you from hearing me come.