“You are wonderfully kind, sir,” she returned with feeling, as he lifted her out. “And, oh, what a paradise you have provided for us here! I can hardly believe it is really to be our home; and I feel that it is far beyond our deserts. The flowers, the vines, the grand old trees, and the green grass,—how lovely they all are!”
“Yes,” he returned pleasantly; “as some one has said, ‘God made the country, and man made the town,’ and I for one have no desire to make my home in the man-made city.”
Max and Lulu had come racing down the path after their father, and were now bringing up the rear with Susan in tow.
“How do you like it?” Lulu was asking eagerly: “is it any improvement upon Rose Alley?”
“Oh, Miss Lulu, it’s too sweet and beautiful for anything!” exclaimed Susan, clasping her hands in an ecstasy of delight. “What lovely flowers, what a delicious perfume from them! Oh, I think myself the happiest girl alive, to be going to live here! I never dreamed of anything half so delightful!”
“And Grandma Elsie has made it nearly, if not quite, as inviting indoors as out,” remarked Max.
“What a kind, kind lady!” said Susan, in tones tremulous with grateful emotion; “the kindest and most generous I ever saw.”
Grandma Elsie was at that moment standing at the entrance to the porch, with hand outstretched in friendly greeting to Mrs. Allen, and to assist her up the steps.
“Welcome home,” she said, with her own rarely sweet smile. “I hope you will find it a happy home.”
“Dear madam, it seems to me a paradise upon earth,” returned the poor woman, tears of joy and gratitude coursing down her wasted cheeks.