"Ah! is that so, Max? I know of nothing that could please me better," exclaimed that dear lady, rising to her feet and bestowing a warm embrace upon the blushing, happy-faced Evelyn.
Violet was beside them in an instant, exclaiming in joyous tones, "Oh, Eva and Max! how glad I am! for I am sure you were made for each other, and will be very happy together."
"And are you willing now to let me be the captain's daughter?" asked
Eva, with a charming blush, accompanied by a slightly roguish laugh.
"Yes; seeing that Max calls me Mamma Vi, and you are really younger than he," was Violet's laughing reply.
But Grace, little Elsie, and the others were crowding around with expressions of surprise and pleasure and many congratulations and good wishes. For everybody who knew them loved both Max and Eva.
But now came the call to breakfast and they repaired to the dining room and gathered about the table, as cheerful and gay a party as could be found in the whole length and breadth of the land.
"You seem likely to have a rapid increase in your family, captain," said Dr. Harold Travilla, with a smiling glance directed toward Lucilla, Max, and Eva, seated near together.
"Some time hence," returned the captain pleasantly. "I consider them all young enough to wait a little, and they are dutifully willing to do as I desire."
"As they certainly should be, considering what a good and kind father you are, sir, and how young they are."
"And how pleasant are the days of courtship," added Mr. Lilburn; "as no doubt they will prove with them."