Reggie led the way into the house, and Joe received a most cordial greeting from Mr. and Mrs. Varley. He had met them before and they had always felt most warmly toward him since the day that he had rescued Mabel from being carried over a cliff by a runaway horse. All that they had seen and heard of him since had increased their favorable estimate of him. And Joe did all he could to deepen that impression, because some day he expected to ask these kindly people for one of their most precious possessions and he wanted the answer to be the right one.