All that evening Dimple sat with one arm around Florence; and, although Rock was so glad to see his mother, he said that he would have Dimple so short a time that he must sit by her, and the three children sat on the steps, Rock holding Dimple's hand and trying his best to cheer her up.
But a more doleful face than appeared at the breakfast table could not be found.
"You must get your Aunt Dora and Florence some nice flowers to take with them," said Mrs. Dallas to Dimple.
"My Aunt Dora! How queer that is, mamma. I have been wondering, is he Rock Hardy or Rock Dallas?"
"He is Rock Hardy."
"I never will get it straight," she said, as she went to get the flowers.
"Uncle Heath," she said, after she had laid the flowers in damp cotton, and put them in boxes, "you may be very happy, but I am not, and I wish you'd leave Rock with me."
He smiled as he looked down at her, and said, "I can't, dear child, but you shall see him often. Baltimore is not very far away."
"Well, I am much obliged to you for making a cousin of him," she said, as she turned away.
"Poor little girl," said he to her mother, "she takes this parting very much to heart."