But I mustn't raise false hopes.

I fear Dr.
O'Farrell has made up his mind; he promised Mrs.Crofton the cat should be shot.

Still, I'll do my _very_ best." Timmy put his skinny arms round his mother's neck.
"I'm glad you're my mother, Mum," he muttered, "and not my step-mother." She smiled for the first time.

"That's rather a double-edged compliment, if I may say so! But I suppose it's true that I would do a good deal more for you than I would for any of the others." "I didn't mean _that_," exclaimed Timmy, shocked.

"I only meant that I wouldn't love you as well.