“Oh, yes, yes, indeed!” cried Marian. “I hope there will be seldom a day when we shall not see each other; for you are like a sister to me.”
“And you will come here to recite every school day, I hope,” said the captain, “for I do not want to lose so painstaking, industrious, and promising a pupil.”
“Nor I so good and kind a teacher,” responded Marian, looking her thanks.
“I am much pleased with the place and its near vicinity to this one, the home of kind and congenial relatives,” remarked Hugh Lilburn, “but as yet we are not entirely sure of securing it. You know the old saying, ‘There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.’”
“Very true, laddie,” said his father, “yet in this case I feel little apprehension of failure.”
“Do you not like the house, Cousin Hugh?” asked Marian.
“It suits me nicely,” he replied, “and I think you can hardly fail to like it. The grounds too are to my taste. I think if we are successful in securing it, it will make us a delightful home.”
By the next evening he was able to say they had secured it, and would get possession in a fortnight. Marian and Lulu were full of delight, and indeed every one seemed much pleased.
“Will you move in as soon as the other folks are out, Cousin Ronald?” asked Grace.