“She is evidently a great sufferer from some cause,” he said to himself; “probably an inconsolable widow, as I have heard no mention of a Mr. McAlpine.”
She bade them welcome, and inquired what they would have for their evening meal, and how soon they would like it served.
The captain answered these questions, then requested to be shown to the sleeping-rooms set apart for their use during their stay.
“I fear, sir, they will seem but poor and mean after such as you and the young folks have no doubt been accustomed to,” she said, leading the way: “but they are the best I can provide, and I trust you will find them clean and comfortable.
“Our nights are cool, even when the days are very warm, and you will get the mountain breeze here; which is a thing to be thankful for, to my way of thinking,” she added, drawing back the curtain from an open window of the room into which she had conducted them.
The captain stepped to it and looked out. “Yes,” he said, “and a fine view of the mountains themselves, with a pretty flower-garden and orchard in the foreground, a river and wooded hills between; a beautiful prospect; another cause for thankfulness, I think. The room, too, is of fair size,” turning from the window and glancing about him. “That open door I presume leads into the one my little girl is to occupy?”
“Yes, sir. It is not large, but I have no other communicating bedrooms, and Mr. Short said you wrote particularly that they must be such, or yours large enough for a corner of it to be curtained off for the young miss.”
“Yes; so I did: and she, I know, would prefer a small room with an open door into mine, to a large and better one with a separating wall between,” smiling down into Lulu’s eager, interested face, at that instant upturned to his.
“Indeed, I should, papa,” she responded, slipping a hand confidingly into his and returning his smile with one of ardent, filial affection.
Tears sprang to the sad eyes of Mrs. McAlpine at the sight, and it was a moment before she could command her voice to speak. When able to do so, excusing herself upon the plea that domestic duties required her attention, she left them.