"Hulloa!" exclaimed the former, starting awake as the children burst into the room. "Who's that?"
"It's only Polly and me, father," replied Bessie, in a trembling voice.
"What a noise you made. I declare I thought it was the wolf."
"Oh, Matthew," interposed his wife, as she stirred the fire into a cheerful blaze.
"Well, we won't say any more about him; will we, little ones?"
The children tried to smile as they gathered round the dim fire.
"How the evenings draw in," observed Mrs. Reardon. "You are later, too, than usual."
"Yes, mother," said Polly. "We stayed to talk to Miss Maberley."
"What did she want to say to you?"
"It was we who wanted to say something to her," answered Polly.