It was a lovely moonlight evening, and a carriage load of company, and two or three gentlemen on horseback, arriving just as they left the parlor, prevented them from being missed for a couple of hours.
Then the visitors having taken leave, the elder members of the family began to wonder what had become of the children, and presently Mr. Dinsmore went in search of them.
“Papa,” cried Elsie, looking up from her book as he entered the boudoir, “we have learned our lessons for to-morrow. Won’t you hear them now and let us go to the city in the morning with mamma and Cousin Mildred?”
“I will hear the recitations, and if I find them satisfactory shall certainly consider you deserving of the favor you ask,” he replied, seating himself and taking the book she held out to him.
“You have both done extremely well, and if nothing happens to prevent shall go to the city with the ladies to-morrow,” he said when the last lesson had been recited.
Both the young faces were full of delight.
“Thank you, Cousin Horace,” said Annis.
“Thank you, my dear, kind father,” Elsie said, seating herself on his knee and giving him a hug and kiss. “Annis says father always, and it sounds so nice. May I say it too? I mean would you like me to, papa?”
“Address me by whichever title pleases you best, my darling; both are very sweet to my ear coming from your lips,” he said, holding her close. “But come now, we must return to our friends; it is time for prayers.”
After prayers Annis followed Mildred to her rooms to tell how her evening and Elsie’s had been spent and talk about the purchases to be made on the morrow.