"Yes, I am afraid it is," said Mr. Arnold in his deep and hearty voice. "But we parted friends, did we not?"
"I should think we did just! Why we would rather have you as our clergyman than any one else in the whole world!"
"Come! That's satisfactory. I did not think I would have so warm a welcome!"
"Do you like chestnuts?" asked Jack, holding out a charred one between two grubby fingers.
"Don't I?"
In a moment Mr. Arnold was down on the rug like a school-boy, and the children's tongues went fast. Mona looked on smiling; then she said to Miss Falkner—
"What is the fascination of roasting chestnuts, I wonder. Why do all children love it so? You burn your fingers and the chestnuts, eat more ashes than anything else, and scorch your face to pieces!"
"I think it is the love of cooking them," said Miss Falkner.
"It is the danger and difficulty surrounding the undertaking," said Mr. Arnold, rescuing two chestnuts that had rolled over into the fire. "Difficulties stimulate children, they do not deter them."