"Better inquire first how soon it will be begun," laughed her father. "If we get into it by next spring we may consider ourselves fortunate."
"Oh dear!" sighed the children with one accord.
"The time will slip around before you know it, dears," remarked their aunt cheerily.
"And we'll soon get the ground fenced in and let you spend your leisure time, and exercise your taste and ingenuity in beautifying it," said their father.
"And may we all help plan the house?" asked Rupert.
Mr. Keith smiled, a kindly good-natured smile, with some amusement in it too.
"You may all make suggestions; it is to be our house:—not the parents' only, but the children's, too."
