"That was very kind and thoughtful in you, cousin captain," returned Isadore with a pleased look, "and I hardly think any of us will feel inclined to reject your dainties; though we have fared very well indeed since coming here."
"Please accept my thanks also, and those of our husbands and children," said Molly. "Aunt Rose and Cousin Elsie, please sit down here with the gentlemen and let us younger ones attend to the unpacking and arranging of the contents of your trunks. If you will trust us, I can assure you we shall enjoy doing it. At least I am sure I shall."
"That is a kind offer, Molly," said Mrs. Travilla, "but we have done nothing to-day to tire us and I, for one, am not in the least fatigued; so ought not to indulge my love of ease at your expense."
"Your love of ease, Cousin Elsie!" laughed Molly. "I never discovered that you had any."
"No; but she has a daughter who is both able and willing to attend to the duty in question," said Rosie Travilla. "So sit you down, mother dear, and enjoy this pleasant company, while we younger folks unpack and find places for your goods and chattels."
"Yes, do, mother," said Captain Raymond, bringing forward an easy chair for her. "Can't you trust me to oversee and assist these younger folks? If not we will seat you in state in some spot convenient for you to do that part in person."
"Thanks, captain," she returned with a smile of amusement "as commanding and giving directions has been your business for so many years, I think you may be trusted to attend to the matter even without my added supervision."
"Yes, come along, sir," said Rosie, leading the way, "but please to remember that you and we girls are not in the schoolroom."
"I shall endeavor to keep that fact in mind, my sage young sister," he said in return.
"But it won't make any difference in your authority over your own daughters, I am happy to know, papa," Lucilla said, with a loving, smiling look up into his face.