OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN 

 the household, and Loki, I am sure, does not forgetfor a 

 long memory is one of the Pekinese characteristicshow 

 the South Pole hero played hide-and-seek with him in his 

 puppyhood for a whole hour, one summer's day, like a 

 very child himself. The family of Villino Loki have 

 memories, too, of that friendship which they valued so 

 highly ; and they will always carry the vivid picture of the 

 strong brown face, with the blue eyes that were at once as 

 guileless as a child's and full of a far-away vision, as if 

 they never ceased to contemplate their high and distant goal. 

 The world is crowded with bumptious people who do 

 nothing at all that is useful, if they do not do harm. Here 

 was a man who had already accomplished mighty achieve- 

 ment and was set on mightier still, and there never was 

 anyone so modest, so anxious to push others forward and 

 keep himself in the background. He was asked by one of 

 us to write a line in an autograph book, and he set down 

 characteristically a tribute to another : 



" The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 

 Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel. . . ." 



We laughed <after that futile fashion that becomes a kind 

 of habit nowadays) and said, "We always think that 

 sounds so uncomfortable ! " 



He raised those blue eyes, half humorously, half depre- 

 catingly. "You make me feel ashamed of being in- 

 corrigibly romantic/' 

 It was we who felt ashamed. 



" We are sure/' we answered, " you have a good friend 

 somewhere/' 

 36 



