"You were all little once, boys!" said Mary.
"We never behaved in this kind of way!" said the brothers, sedate from their cradles. "Something must be done!"
"You are right," said Father Golden. "Something must be done."
Glancing once more at the portrait of Mother Golden, he turned and faced his children with grave looks.
"Sit down, sons and daughters!" said the old man. "I have something to say to you."
The young people obeyed, wondering, but not questioning. Father Golden was head of the house.
"You all come to me," said Father Golden, "with complaints of little Benjamin. It is singular that you should come to-day, for I have been waiting for this day to speak to you about the child myself."
He paused for a moment; then added, weighing his words slowly, as was his wont when much in earnest, "Ten years ago to-day, that child was left on our door-step."
The brothers and sisters uttered an exclamation, half surprised, half acquiescent.
"It doesn't seem so long!" said Adam.