"Yes; and I have Max and Gracie; so I am much better off than you."
"And such a sweet, pretty mamma," supplemented Evelyn, sending an admiring glance across the room to where Violet sat chatting with her sister Elsie.
"But you have your own mother, and that's a great deal better," returned
Lulu. "Mamma Vi is very beautiful and sweet, and very kind to Max and
Gracie and me, but a step-mother can't be like your own."
"I suppose not quite," Evelyn said with a sigh; "but I have no idea when
I shall see mine again."
"We are situated a good deal alike," remarked Lulu, reflectively. "My father and your mother are far away in this world, and your father and my mother are gone to heaven."
"Yes. Oh, don't you sometimes want to go to them there?"
"I'm not good enough—not fit in any way; and I believe I'd rather stay here—at least while papa does," Lulu said, with some hesitation.
"I hope he may be spared to you for many, many years," said Evelyn, gently; "at least till you are quite grown up, and perhaps have a family of children of your own."
"Were you ever so naughty that your father told you you gave him a great deal of trouble and heartache?" asked Lulu in a tremulous voice and with starting tears.
"Oh no; no, indeed!" exclaimed Eva, in surprise. "How could I, or any one, with such a father as mine?"