"Yes, papa; I didn't s'pose you'd care!"
"Care! My dear, your mother is the one to care! Just look at your stockings!"
"There was coal there, thrown in," said Dotty, with a quivering lip; "and I had to walk over it, and under it, and through it."
"Was my little daughter afraid to come in by the door?"
"I didn't know's you wanted me, papa.
"I thought you'd say, 'What strange child is this?'"
Mr. Parlin, looking at the black streaks on Dotty's woeful face, found it very difficult to keep from laughing. "A strange child' she appeared to be, certainly.
"But I'd got my visit all finished up, ever and ever so long ago."
"So you really chose to come back to us, my dear?"
"O, papa, you don't know! Did you think, did you s'pose—"