Ladybird Conway, our little "April's lady," wept disconsolately some time upon the sofa after Aura Stanley had glided away. Her willful prank had not succeeded as she expected, and her young heart was very heavy.
"Oh, how could Earle treat me so coldly?" she sobbed. "I hate all the others—silly things. And I wouldn't marry Jack Tennant to save his life."
She heard the gate-latch click, then a masculine step on the porch, and started up in a flurry, dashing away her tears.
"It is Earle coming back to beg me not to have anything to do with Jack Tennant. Oh, I thought he would repent! I'll forgive the darling, of course, but—I'll be a little haughty just at first!" she thought, her spirits rising to the point of coquetry.
She stood up expectantly, a pretty dimpling smile on her rosy lips.
In another moment a man stood at the threshold of the open door—a tall handsome man past middle age, with many gray threads in his dark hair.
Ladybird looked at the intruder, then flew to his arms with a cry of delight:
"Dear papa, you have come at last!"
"At last, my pet!" and Bruce Conway hugged her with fervor, then drew her to a seat by him on the sofa.