`` Here are some nuts and candies for William John , '' she said . `` And tell him we all wish him a ` Happy New Year . ' '' `` Thank you , '' said Bertie . `` I 've had a splendid time . I 'll tell William John . Goodnight . '' He stepped out . It was frostier than ever . The snow crackled and snapped , the stars were keen and bright , but to Bertie , running down the street with William John 's sled thumping merrily behind him , the world was aglow with rosy hope and promise . He was quite sure he could never forget this wonderful New Year . Between the Hill and the Valley It was one of the moist , pleasantly odorous nights of early spring . There was a chill in the evening air , but the grass was growing green in sheltered spots , and Jeffrey Miller had found purple-petalled violets and pink arbutus on the hill that day . Across a valley filled with beech and fir , there was a sunset afterglow , creamy yellow and pale red , with a new moon swung above it . It was a night for a man to walk alone and dream of his love , which was perhaps why Jeffrey Miller came so loiteringly across the springy hill pasture , with his hands full of the mayflowers . He was a tall , broad-shouldered man of forty , and looking no younger , with dark grey eyes and a tanned , clean-cut face , clean-shaven save for a drooping moustache . Jeffrey Miller was considered a handsome man , and Bayside people had periodical fits of wondering why he had never married . They pitied him for the lonely life he must lead alone there at the Valley Farm , with only a deaf old housekeeper as a companion , for it did not occur to the Bayside people in general that a couple of shaggy dogs could be called companions , and they did not know that books make very excellent comrades for people who know how to treat them . One of Jeffrey 's dogs was with him now -- the oldest one , with white breast and paws and a tawny coat . He was so old that he was half-blind and rather deaf , but , with one exception , he was the dearest of living creatures to Jeffrey Miller , for Sara Stuart had given him the sprawly , chubby little pup years ago . They came down the hill together .
A group of men were standing on the bridge XXXXX the hollow , discussing Colonel Stuart 's funeral of the day before .
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