It was a superb fight--there will never be another like
it as long as Jakko stands--and Pluffles was the prize of victory.
People said shameful things about Mrs. Hauksbee. They did not know
what she was playing for. Mrs. Reiver fought, partly because
Pluffles was useful to her, but mainly because she hated Mrs.
Hauksbee, and the matter was a trial of strength between them. No
one knows what Pluffles thought. He had not many ideas at the best
of times, and the few he possessed made him conceited. Mrs.
Hauksbee said:--"The boy must be caught; and the only way of
catching him is by treating him well."
So she treated him as a man of the world and of experience so long
as the issue was doubtful. Little by little, Pluffles fell away
from his old allegiance and came over to the enemy, by whom he was
made much of. He was never sent on out-post duty after 'rickshaws
any more, nor was he given dances which never came off, nor were
the drains on his purse continued. Mrs. Hauksbee held him on the
snaffle; and after his treatment at Mrs.
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