Charlie took to Mr. Darol at once; and before the day ended they were all fast friends.
"I think yours is a most remarkable family," he said to Florence. "There is not one of the children but what you might be proud of anywhere."
"I am so glad you can love them!" and the grateful tears were in her eyes.
"And, when we return home, it seems as if we ought to take Charlie. There she will have just the position she needs."
"O Edmund! I don't deserve that you should be so good to me. I was longing to ask it. But I have been so weak and foolish!"
"My darling, that is past. I will say now, that my only misgiving about you has been the apparent forgetfulness of old family ties. But I knew you were young when you left your home, and that Mrs. Osgood insisted upon this course; besides, I never could tell how worthy they were of fond remembrance."
"And did not dream that I could be so basely ungrateful!" she answered in deepest shame. "I abhor myself: I have forfeited your respect."
"Hush, dear! Let it all be buried in our child's grave. Perhaps his death was the one needful lesson. And now that we have found them all, we must try to make amends."
Florence sobbed her deep regret, nestling closely to his heart.
"Your brother Hal interests me so much! It seems that he will always feel the result of his accident in some degree, on account of a strained tendon. He has such a passionate love for flowers, and the utmost skill in their care and culture. But he ought to have a wider field for operations."