"Come here, my darling," said Mrs. Price, kissing her daughter. "This man is your father now, and he will be very good to you."

It was like a dash of cold water on the warm little heart, and, starting back, she glanced at him from the corners of her pretty black eyes and answered:

"I cannot call him father."

"You will learn to, my dear," Price answered with a smile.

"Come, Robert, come and greet your new father," said the mother.

Robert remained stubbornly at the door and, with a dangerous fire flashing in his eyes, answered:

"Call him not my father; he is no father of mine!"

"You will learn to like me, children," answered Mr. Price, with an effort to be pleasant; but it needed no prophet to see that there was trouble in the near future.


CHAPTER IX.