Then he was released, and proceeded to take off his overcoat, while the two little girls seized upon one another and went dancing about the hall to the music of Maggie's continued squeals.
"Have I made a mistake as to my own house and found my way into a private insane asylum?" said Mr. Bradford, pretending to soliloquize. "It must be so, else why this wild excitement? These must be two of the wildest and most excitable of the inmates. I must escape."
[Illustration: "HAVE I FOUND MY WAY INTO A PRIVATE INSANE ASYLUM?">[
And he made a feint of trying to do so, running into his library and sinking into an easy chair where he was speedily held captive again by two pair of arms piled one above the other about his neck, while all manner of endearing epithets were lavished upon him.
"Thank you very much," he said at last, "for all these compliments, but really I am ignorant why I am particularly deserving of them at the present moment."
"Oh, you needn't pretend you don't know now, you sweet, lovely darling," said Maggie, with a fresh squeeze and a kiss, planted directly upon his right eye. "You have lifted the most dreadful weight off of Bessie's mind. I don't know what it was, but I know that she had one, and now it is all gone."
"And you did it in such a delightful way, too, papa," said Bessie; "sending it in that lovely box of bonbons."
"Sending what—the weight?" said Mr. Bradford.
"Now, papa!" expostulated both at once. "You know what we mean, and you needn't pretend that you don't," said Bessie. "No, you took away the weight, and you're just too good for anything."
"If you would throw a little light, perhaps I could understand," answered her father; "but really, as it is, I cannot take credit to myself for having lifted any one's burdens to-day, at least, not knowingly."