"It's very queer," said Dick presently, "I don't seem able to think of any one but mother and father to-day; I suppose it's because I dreamt of them last night; it was so long ago I saw them!"
"I believe you're awfully fond of them, aren't you, Dick?" said Ruth seriously.
"Of course I am!"
"You always want to do what you think they'd like," Ruth continued; "grandfather says you're a true soldier's son, because you speak the truth, and know how to obey!"
Dick flushed with pleasure, for to his mind this was highest praise. He thought of his first night In England, when he had been so very low-spirited and unhappy, and Uncle Theophilus had succeeded in raising his British pluck.
"Grandfather likes people to tell the truth," Lionel remarked gravely; "I've got on with him much better since I found out that he'd rather one spoke out to him. He hates liars!"
"So does father!" Dick replied. "He says they're always mean, cowardly sort of people."
"I haven't told even a little fib since Dick and I were nearly drowned," Ruth chimed in.
"You weren't nearly drowned," Lionel expostulated.
"We might have been nearly drowned," Ruth persisted. "I am sure something dreadful would have happened to us if it hadn't been for Nero! We should have died of cold! At any rate, I told God then I'd turn over a new leaf, and be a better girl, and I'm trying. When I remember how I cried, and what a coward I was, I feel so ashamed of myself! I wonder what grandfather has gone to London for," she proceeded with a sudden change of tone; "I believe mother knows, because when I asked her she told me not to keep on worrying her with questions, and that was the first question I had asked!"