“Yes; if nothing happens to prevent.”
“And mayn’t Lu and Max go along?”
“Certainly; if they want to.”
“Thank you, papa; I’ll be very much pleased to go,” Lulu said; Max adding, “I too. So there’ll be four of us to choose your two birds, Gracie.”
“Perhaps we may be able to persuade your mamma to go too,” the captain said, as at that moment Violet joined them, “and then there’ll be five of us.”
“Go where, my dear?” asked Violet, seating herself by his side.
He explained, and she accepted the invitation, with the remark that she did not want to lose his company for a moment of the week he would be with her before starting on his journey to the West.
CHAPTER IX.
They all enjoyed their trip to the city the next day, Grace perhaps more than any of the others. She was allowed to buy everything on her list, and some others she thought of while on the way or in the stores, selecting them herself.
But the first business attended to was the purchase of the canaries. They succeeded in getting a beautiful pair, fine singers, and a very handsome cage. Grace was full of delight, and her father pleased himself with the hope that the new pets would save her from the loneliness Lulu’s absence would otherwise have caused her.