Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the hall in the midst of all her relations, who had crowded there to welcome here.
"Lor-lor-lor', John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as that with Laura, and she a young 'oman?" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, as, in her well-known faded calico gown and long-eared muslin cap, she came up and kissed her granddaughter.
"Why, because she is a young 'oman, of course, and not an old man!" said John, saucily.
"Why, how much you have improved, child!" said Miss Molly Moss, smiling blandly.
"Oh, a'n't she though, neither?" exclaimed Octy and Ulky in a breath, as they seized her hands, the one clinging to her right and the other to her left.
"Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs and take off her bonnet and things. Dinner's all ready to go on the table. And I reckon her appetite is ready also. And, Jacky, you had better go out and tell John Brooks to put up and feed them horses," said practical Aunt Kitty, as she took and faced Laura about toward the spare bed-room that was on the first floor.
"Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don't see him," said Laura as she laid off her bonnet.
"No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday, intending to stay all night and come back this morning. I reckon they'll soon be here," said Aunt Kitty.
Laura washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, put on clean collar and cuffs, and declared herself ready to join the family.
Even as she spoke there was the hilarious bustle of an arrival in the hall outside.