He was also a gentleman to the backbone, and no word his mistress uttered, however casual, ever passed unacknowledged by him.

He always laughed when she laughed, however obscure the joke.
He smiled now, since she was obviously pleased, but without taking his sharp little eyes off the object of his interest.

Suddenly the scuttling crab disappeared and he started up with a whine.

In a moment he was scratching in the shingle in eager search, flinging showers of stones over his companion in the process.
She protested, seizing him by his wiry tail to make him desist.
"Columbus! Don't! You're burying me alive! Do sit down and be sensible, or I'll never be wrecked on a desert island with you again!" Columbus subsided, not very willingly, dropping with a grunt into the hole he had made.

His mistress released him, and took out a gold cigarette case.
"I wonder what I shall do when I've finished these," she mused.