Upton drudgery and that dreadful week in Montrose seemed like a bad dream . Here , in the golden meadows of Mount Hope Farm , he worked with a right good will . The men liked him , and he soon became a favourite with them . Even Clemantiny relented somewhat . To be sure , she continued very grim , and still threw her words at him as if they were so many missiles warranted to strike home . But Chester soon learned that Clemantiny 's bark was worse than her bite . She was really very good to him and fed him lavishly . But she declared that this was only to put some flesh on him . `` It offends me to see bones sticking through anybody 's skin like that . We are n't used to such objects at Mount Hope Farm , thank goodness . Yes , you may smile , Salome . I like him well enough , and I 'll admit that he knows how to make himself useful , but I do n't trust him any more than ever I did . He 's mighty close about his past life . You ca n't get any more out of him than juice out of a post . I 've tried , and I know . '' But it was Miss Salome who had won Chester 's whole heart . He had never loved anybody in his hard little life before . He loved her with an almost dog-like devotion . He forgot that he was working to earn money -- and make his fortune . He worked to please Miss Salome .
She was good and kind and gentle to him , and his starved XXXXX thawed and expanded in the sunshine of her atmosphere .
bark devotion fortune heart juice life meadows men objects will