"Oh, now, do be good; do stop crying, and mamma will get you some candy," said Zillah, in her most coaxing tones.
"Tanny, mamma?" asked the child, the screams suddenly ceasing, and smiles breaking through the tears.
"Yes," Zillah said, drying his eyes and kissing him fondly, then rising with him in her arms and going to a cupboard.
But the size of the piece she offered did not suit the ideas of the young tyrant; he refused to accept it, and bursting into screams again demanded a bigger one.
"Take this in one hand, and you shall have a bigger piece in the other," said the over-indulgent mamma, and peace being restored she sat down with him on her lap, and began talking with Don.
"Where's Wallace?" the latter presently inquired.
"He went down-town again after tea, but said he wouldn't be gone very long. Do you want to see him particularly?"
"I would like a talk with him," Don said, with a sigh. "I wish he would try to get father and mother to consent to my joining the party that are going to California."
"O Don, how can you suggest such a thing now when they are feeling so sad over poor Fan?" exclaimed Zillah, tears starting to her eyes.
"Don't think me hard-hearted or wanting in love for them," Don returned with feeling; "but the truth is I don't know how to endure life here now that Fan's gone. I miss her at every turn. I think it would be different in a new place where I had not been accustomed to her sweet society." His words were almost inaudible from emotion as he concluded.