“I know how you felt. It is all right, sweetness,” Uncle Robert whispered back. Rosanna’s clasp tightened round his neck.
“Uncle Robert, shall I—do you suppose—will I be your sweetness just the same even after you are married?”
Uncle Robert kissed her hard. “Before and after, and forever and ever more!” he said. “Just as soon as I get to be a sober married man, I shall be your uncle and your daddy too, and you are going to be the happiest little girl in the world.”
“Oh, Uncle Robert!” was all Rosanna could say, but her look thanked him and tears were very near his own eyes as he watched the little orphaned girl skipping off with her arm around the shoulders of his future wife. But they were tears of happiness.
“Don’t you love this room, Captain?” asked Rosanna, as she switched on the soft flood of light.
“Indeed I do!” said Miss Hooker. “I expect to spend a great deal of my time here. Between us, Rosanna, we ought to be able to plan the most wonderful things for our Scout troop. And next summer Bob says he will find a place for us to camp, and fit us out with tents and all that, so we will not have to go to a boarding-house or hotel, but stay right in the open. Won’t that be splendid?”
“Think of it!” said Rosanna. “Won’t the girls be wild when they hear about it? Oh, dear, I wish I was eighteen so I could be a lieutenant!”
“I don’t wish you were eighteen,” said Miss Hooker. “I like you just as you are.”
“Oh, Miss Hooker, you are so sweet!” said Rosanna.
Miss Hooker dimpled. “One thing we had better settle right now,” she said. “What are you going to call me?”