“Then Grandma Elsie is only about ten years older than you, not nearly enough older to be your real mother.”
“Quite true,” he said, with a humorous look, “but I find it not at all unpleasant to have so young and beautiful a mother; a lady so lovely in character, as well as in form and feature, that I should greatly rejoice to know that my daughters would grow up to resemble her in all respects.”
“I’d like to be exactly like her, except—” But there Grace paused, leaving her sentence unfinished.
“Except in being fifty years old?” her father asked, regarding her with laughing eyes.
“Yes, sir; I’d rather be a little girl for a good while yet; your little girl, papa, who can sit on your knee whenever she wants to.”
“That’s right,” he said heartily. “I am by no means ready to part with my little Gracie yet.”
“I feel just as Gracie does about it,” said Lulu. “I want to be a little girl for a while longer, then a young lady; but when I get to be fifty years old I’d like to be as nearly like Grandma Elsie as possible.”
“I hope not to be,” remarked Max facetiously; “but I know a gentleman I would like to resemble so much when I’m forty, that people would say of me, ‘He’s just a chip off the old block,’” and with the last words the lad turned a proud, admiring, affectionate look upon his father.
The captain’s countenance expressed pleasure, and Violet, looking pleased also, said, “I hope you will have your wish, Max, and I think there is every prospect of it.”
“What plans are thought of for the coming celebration, my dear?” asked the captain.