“And you and Willie?” suggested the children, after a pause.
“I am here, my dear,” continued Miss Lane with a little sigh, looking thoughtfully out of the window. “You know all about me. My fate, I suppose, was to tell you stories. I never saw my dear father again alive. In the next spring, he sailed for home, he died on the sea, and they buried him in the water. It was very hard to bear at first. To this day, I have not recovered from the yearning for one more touch of his hand, one more sound of his voice. It seemed as if I were dying of hunger for a sight of his face once more, and I grew so pale and weak that every body feared for my life. It seemed as if my soul’s food had been taken away, and I pined for many months, till a good man, even dear, gentle Willie, showed me my sin in grieving so much, and I tried again to lift up my head.
“And when I finished my education, because there was other need greater than mine, I gave up my little fortune, and took this work of teaching upon myself. Willie is your Dr. Sprague.”
“Our Dr. Sprague! our Dr. Sprague your Willie! Hurrah! Papa, Dr. Sprague is Miss Lane’s Willie!” cried the children, running to the door as Mr. Graham appeared.
“Whose Willie am I?” said a voice, speaking from out the depths of a great-coat, as another gentleman appeared behind their papa; and four young forms were held tight in a strong pair of arms, as their turns came.
“Do you know Miss Lane?” inquired Lillie, when, tea being over and some degree of quietness restored, she sat curiously watching the two faces of her friends.
“Yes, a little,” answered the gentleman, nodding and smiling in a wonderfully contented manner.
A moment after all were moved to mirth, as little Rosie said, deliberately bringing out her words, as if she had come to the conclusion after much study, and looking meditatively into Miss Lane’s face:
“I think she likes him yet—Willie, I mean.”
On the next day, they learned that in the spring, Miss Lane would have her own home and fireside, to which, she assured them, when their tears fell at the thought of parting with her, they would ever be welcome.