and then again; hung about the door, fell upon a dog that threatened
to bite them, and drove it away howling; often stood over the
perambulator with a sunshade for three hours at a time, without
moving a muscle; and adored Mr. Grubb with a consuming passion.
There was no special reason for this sentiment, but then Alisa
Bennett was not quite a reasonable being. Mr. Grubb had never been
adored before in his life; and to say the truth, his personality was
not winning. He had a pink, bald head, pale blue eyes, with blond
tufts for eyebrows, and a pointed beard dripping from his chin, which
tended to make him look rather like an invalid goat. But as animals
are said to have an eye for spirits, children have an eye for souls,
which is far rarer than an eye for beautiful surfaces.

Mr. Grubb began by loathing Alisa, then patiently suffered her, then
pitied, then respected, then loved her. Mrs. Grubb seldom saw her,
and objected to nothing by which she herself was relieved of care.
So Lisa grew to be first a familiar figure in the household, and
later an indispensable one.

Poor Mrs. Bennett finally came to the end of things temporal. 'Dying
is the first piece of good luck I ever had,' she said to Mr. Grubb.
'If it turns out that I've brought a curse upon an innocent creature,
I'd rather go and meet my punishment half-way than stay here and see
it worked out to the end.'

'"In my Father's house are many mansions,"' stammered Mr. Grubb, who
had never before administered spiritual consolation.

She shook her head. 'If I can only get rid of this world, it's all I
ask,' she said; 'if the other one isn't any better, why, it can't be