"O Dor'fy! Dor'fy! Aunt Mary is going to let you come over to our house——"
"And you can play with our dollies, and we's going to have tea parties, and——and ev'ything!"
The twins threw their arms around their new friend and danced about at the risk of falling head first down the steps.
"Aunt Mary, couldn't you let Dorothy stay with us until Monday? She knows us now, and she might be lonely here when we go home."
Mr. Bond answered before Mother Madeline could speak. "No, no, Mary, I could not think of imposing on your mother in that way. She must be pretty well worn out after moving from the city."
"But she won't mind jes' one more chilluns, Mr. Bond—not jes' one," pleaded Berta.
Mother Madeline laughed. "I think they are right, Mr. Bond. You had better let them have their way."
"I am so grateful to you, Mother, and to these little folks that it would be useless for me even to try to thank you for this happy ending of all my worry."
"Daddy, my dollie's nose is broken and her hand, and her hair comes off, and——and a tea party's going to be."
"Then it is time you had a new doll, isn't it? My little girl has very few toys. Taking her with me on my trips, I have found that picture books and a doll or two are the things most easily packed in a trunk. But now I should like to get her whatever the other little ones have; and since Wilhelmina and Mary have spent some time at boarding school, perhaps they will make a list of the toys they think suitable."