"O papa! don't go!" they all exclaimed in a breath. "Please stay with us: we'd rather have you, a great deal rather!"
He could not resist their entreaties, so sat down, and drew his two little girls into his arms, while Max stationed himself close at his side.
"My dear children," he said, "you can hardly be happier in the prospect before us than your father is."
"Is mamma Vi glad?" asked Lulu.
"Yes; quite as much rejoiced, I think, as any of the rest of us."
"But doesn't she want me sent away to school or somewhere?" with a wistful, anxious gaze into his face. "Is she willing to have me in the new home, papa?"
"Yes, daughter, more than willing: she wants you to be under your father's constant care and watchfulness, hoping that so he may succeed in teaching you to control your temper."
"She's very good and forgiving," was Lulu's comment in a low and not unmoved tone.
"Papa, when will you begin to look for the new home?" asked Grace, affectionately stroking his cheek and whiskers with her small white hand.
"I have been looking at advertisements," he said; "and, now that baby is out of danger, I shall begin the search in earnest."