Captain Raymond and Lucilla were now coming up the porch steps and at the same moment Max stepped out from the hall door. He was looking very happy.
“Good-morning, father,” he said. “Good-morning, Mamma Vi, and all of you. Father, I suppose Harold has told you the news?”
“Yes, my dear boy; very pleasant news, though it seems to add something to my age to know myself a grandfather,” returned the captain with a smile, and taking Max’s extended hand in a warm pressure.
“What did you choose a girl for, Brother Max?” asked Ned. “I should think you’d rather have a boy.”
“No, little brother,” laughed Max. “I’m glad it is a girl, and always shall be glad, if she grows up to be just like her mother, as I hope she will.”
“I hope so too, Max, and I am well pleased that she is a girl,” said Lucilla, “but I am glad that father and mother had a boy first so that I have always had an older brother to look up to.”
“And you have really looked up to him?” laughed Max. “I haven’t always known it, and certainly have not always been worthy of it.”
Just then they were joined by Grandma Elsie and her daughter, Mrs. Leland, with her husband and children.
All had heard the news and were full of the subject. The ladies and children wanted to see the little newcomer, but that could not be for the present without running the risk of disturbing its mother, and just then came the summons to the breakfast table.