“Twice, if you wish, daughter,” he returned, laughingly submitting to her renewed embraces then hugging her so tight that she cried out, “Oh, not quite so hard, papa, you’ll squeeze the breath out of me!”
“I should be sorry to do that,” he said, kissing and releasing her.
“Oh, Gracie, what a dear, good father we have! what nice, nice surprises he’s given me for my birthday!” exclaimed Lulu, as the door closed on him and Violet. “Did you know about them beforehand?”
“Yes, all but the lockets. Papa, mamma, and Maxie and I talked it all over together; when you weren’t by, you know; and it was such fun to think how surprised and glad you’d be. Now we’d better hurry and get dressed before Eva comes.”
A little later, hand in hand and arrayed in the new finery, they presented themselves before their father and Violet in the library, asking, “Will we do, papa?”
“I think so,” he said, regarding them with eyes full of fatherly pride and affection. “I certainly should not be ashamed to claim you anywhere as my own little daughters.”
“You would not be that, my dear, if you saw them in rags,” said Violet; “your fatherly heart would only go out to them in stronger affection because of their unhappy condition.”
“Yes, indeed, Mamma Vi,” said Max, who had just come in from the grounds; “but papa would go without a coat for himself before he would let his children be in rags.”
“Oh hark! I hear wheels! Eva has come!” cried Lulu, hurrying out through the hall to the front door, the others following.
To her surprise not only the Fairview carriage, but those of Ion and the Oaks were there on the drive, and her young friends Eva, Rosie, Lora, Sydney and Maud, and several others, all in holiday attire, came tripping in with merry greetings and good wishes.