"Our uncle from America is coming over to visit us," they triumphantly announce to their friend.
"You seem to be glad," Lady Vera answers, kindly.
"Oh, we are," they laugh. "Aren't you glad, too, Vera?"
"I do not know. I do not like Americans much," says Lady Vera, with a distinct remembrance of the Clevelands and Leslie Noble.
"Oh, but you will be sure to like Uncle Phil. He is awfully jolly, and he is a soldier, too. He has a sword and a gun and has promised to teach me to shoot. I am going to be a soldier, too," cries out Mark, the second son.
"And when is this terrible soldier coming?" Lady Vera inquires, with languid interest.
"We do not know exactly, but very soon," they tell her. "He came about this time last year. Mamma had a letter from him this morning."
"You have not told me his name yet," Lady Vera continues.
"He is Captain Philip Lockhart, and his father, our own grandpapa, is General Lockhart," answers Hal, the heir, while little Dot claps her small hands gleefully, crying out:
"Uncle Phil will bring us lots of bu'ful playt'ings from New York. He always does."