All the voices talked together. Broken scraps reached me, in tones not loud but excited.

"O father! We've had the jolliest day! We went such a walk!"

"And Millie was so tired!"

"And Gladys went with us."

"Oh, and father, only think—"

"Father, I'm going to have a canary-bird,—Pet and me, I mean."

"Yes, father, isn't it lovely? Mrs. Hepburn is going to give a canary to Popsie and me for our very own."

"Isn't Mrs. Hepburn a dear, father?"

"And it's a green canary."

"I thought canaries were yellow."