"Always!" repeated Beryl, in a tone of wonder. "Do you really mean always? How will your mother like that, Miss Burton?"
Covered with confusion, Hettie looked appealingly at Mr. Hollys. "You must tell her all; she will not be so pleased then, I fear," she said.
Beryl looked from one to the other in utter bewilderment.
"Beryl," said her father, "you told me once that you could never be happy with a stepmother; but now, dear, you will have to make the experiment. I am going to marry again."
"Papa!" exclaimed Beryl, looking half frightened, "what do you mean?"
"Just this, darling—that Hettie Burton has made me very happy by promising to become my wife, so you see she will live with us always, and be a mother to you. You will be glad of that, will you not, Beryl?"
"Papa, is that it?" cried Beryl in excited tones. "Are you going to marry Miss Burton? I am surprised; I never dreamed of such a thing. Why, that is quite different. If I had thought Miss Burton would be my stepmother, I should not have said that I could not be happy with one. Oh, I am so glad, so very glad!"
And she threw her arms round Hettie Burton's neck, and kissed her again and again in an ecstasy of delight.
Surely no stepmother ever had a warmer welcome or a better prospect of happiness!
THE END