"What for, Minnie? What am I waiting at home for father for?"
"To see him of course," answered Minnie.
"And to wish him and you good-by," said Joshua.
"Good-by!" echoed the child, with a sudden look of distress in her large gray eyes. "So soon!"
"Yes. My ship sails to-morrow."
"And this is the last day we shall see you," she said, her tears falling upon his hand.
"The last day for a little while, little Minnie," he said, striving to speak cheerfully.
"For how long?" asked the child, bending her head, so that her fair hair fell over her face.
"For a year, perhaps, Minnie," he answered.
"For a long, long year," she said sorrowfully. "You will not do as mother did, will you?"