"I'm going to take credit, too, Sally. I'm going to teach you and baby to read and write."
"O! Mr. Dumbrick!"
"That's as much as a real father could do. Reading's a grand thing, Sally. We've much to be thankful for. Be thankful, Sally."
"I am, Mr. Dumbrick, I am, oh, so much!"
"I don't like that mister, Sally."
"No?" questioned Sally, for ever on the alert to discover her guardian's likes or dislikes.
"It's too much like company manners. Now that we're comfortably settled we ought to be more sociable. Call me Dad, or Daddy, or Daddy Dumbrick. Your tongue'll soon get used to it."
"Yes, Mr.--Dad-dy Dumbrick."
Sally's tongue tripped so comically over the new terms that she laughed, and Seth grimly joined in the merriment.
"We soon get used to things, Sally. Once on a time we usedn't to live in houses."