"Is it a live doll, Father?" whispered the little girl in wonder.
"No, pet. See this button at the back of its neck? Watch what happens when I push it."
"Oh, oh! Now, I know! Its head turns around inside its cap, and it has a crying face instead of hair at the back of its head. Father, where did you find such a darling doll?"
"I happened to see it Saturday on my way from the bank to the steamship office. Mother had just telephoned me that our brave little daughter would not think of letting her old daddy live among strangers——"
"But—but I wasn't brave, Father," came the protest in a choked voice. "Didn't Mother tell you how horrid I was?"
"No, dear; and I really cannot believe that you were horrid. I know that you must have felt just as I did when Uncle Frank said that you could not go with us. Sometimes on the spur of the moment, we say things that we do not really mean, and I am sure that is what you did. But here is something that will interest you—a fine kodak. We shall take pictures of the babies every week, and mail them to you, and Uncle will get you a new album to paste them in."
Shortly after luncheon, Aunt Mandy brought the babies in for the last time. Mary hugged them and kissed their rosy little faces over and over again as she whispered, "Take care of them, Aunt Mandy, oh, take care of them and of Father and Mother——"
"'Cose I will, honey chile! Why fo' yo' 'spects old mammy gwine 'long, I lak to know?"
Then her father and mother came; and Mary, winking very fast and swallowing hard, clung to them not daring to speak, but just drinking in every loving word which they uttered. They had hardly left the room when the Doctor appeared. Mary clenched her hands and tried to smile at him.
"They have gone downstairs, have they? I shall be back very soon, Goldilocks." Then, touched by the utter loneliness of the little figure in the big chair, he added, "Just as soon as I put them into the carriage. But you ought to be at a front window to wave to them. Will you please bring some of those sofa cushions, Sister?"