"Oh, yes, mamma! I think we had good fun," exclaimed Neddie. "To be sure Ronald is only a baby boy—just about half as old as I am—but he's a very dear little fellow; and then his grandpa made a great deal of fun for us."
"Sometimes it was his papa who did it, I think," said Elsie.
"Oh, yes!" said Ned. "Papa, why don't you do such things for us sometimes?"
"Really, my son, I do not seem to have any talent in that line," returned the captain with a smile. "Your brother Max has, however, and I hope that, some of these days, he will come home and make the fun for you that you are so eager for."
"Oh, I'll be so glad! And will he teach me how to do it, too?"
"I hardly think he can," his father answered, with an amused look; "at least, not till you are a good deal older than you are now."
"Well, I'm getting older every day; mamma tells me so when she wants me to behave like a little gentleman."
"Which is always, Neddie boy," Violet said, with an amused look.
"Yes, my son, both mamma and papa want their little boy to be always a little gentleman—kind, courteous, and thoughtful for others," the captain said, softly patting the little hand laid confidingly on his knee.
"Lu, do you know if Rosie sent off those important letters this morning?" asked Violet.