"Yes, you may go, both of you, if you like. But, Lulu, when you get home, go at once to your room: don't stop in the grounds or on the veranda."
"I won't, papa," she said: "I'll go straight to my room, and, oh, thank you for letting me go!"
CHAPTER XVII.
"Home, sweet home!"
"How large is the estate, doctor?" asked Capt. Raymond, as they were on their way to Woodburn.
"I cannot say exactly," replied Arthur. "There is a bit of woodland comprising several acres; and lawn, gardens, and shrubbery cover several more. I believe that is all."
"About as much as I care for," returned the captain.
"The estate was formerly very large," Arthur went on,—"some thousands of acres,—and the family was a very wealthy one; but, like many others, they lost heavily by the war, and were compelled to part with one portion of the estate after another, till little more than the homestead was left; and now it seems that it, too, must go."
"Are they so reduced?" the captain asked in a tone of deep sympathy.
"I think Miss Elliott does not feel compelled to part with it, and would still live on there, if it were not for the loneliness of the situation, and a natural desire to be with her sister, the only remaining member of their once large family, besides herself."