"Mama!" she exclaimed, raising her head and rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"I could not go to sleep without one more look at my newly restored treasure."
Throwing her arms round her mother's neck, she said fervently, "I am so glad to have you, Mama; and I will be a treasure to you and be so good, indeed I will."
"God grant it, my darling," was Mama's answer to her as she laid the sleepy little head on the pillow again. Then kneeling beside her child's little bed she thanked Him, in a few heartfelt words, for having watched over and guarded her little one, during those six long years of separation.
CHAPTER III.
THE PETITION.
The next few days passed away very happily. Having her sisters with her as companions quite equalled Lena's fondest expectations. Not a jar or a discord had broken the harmony of those days as yet. Milly was so nice, and always ready to admire and enjoy everything that Lena did or proposed; and as to giving up things,—certainly little Lucy did sometimes want what her elder sisters were playing with, but it was very easy to please and satisfy her, she was such a sweet little thing. Lena often wondered how Auntie could have feared her not liking to do it.
It was the end of April when the Grahams came to West Meadenham, and now May had arrived—bright warm sunshiny May, enabling them to spend most of their time out of doors, either in the garden or the fields. And nicest of all, many a happy hour was spent on the sands and among the rocks, while their parents and Aunt walked up and down the Parade, watching them, or would sit with books and work on the shingle, ready to listen to all their doings when they rushed up breathless and eager to recount them.
But these bright delightful days could not last for ever. The first change was Colonel Graham's leaving them for a few days on a visit to some relations; and Lena had a shrewd suspicion, from words that she had heard fall from Aunt Mary, that other changes were in store for them also; but at present she was too much occupied with her sisters to think much about it.
The day after Colonel Graham left, Mama and Auntie announced that they were going to be very busy, preparing Milly's and Lucy's summer-dresses, and that they wanted Hester's assistance, so the three children might play out in the garden together quietly.