The children had not been missed. The clock had only just struck nine when there came a knock on the door of the dining-room, where the Captain and his wife sat still by the Yule-log. She said "Come in," wearily, thinking it was the frumenty and the Christmas cakes.
But it was her father, with her child in his arms!
VIII.
Lucy Jane Bull and her sisters were quite old enough to understand a good deal of grownup conversation when they overheard it. Thus, when a friend of Mrs. Bull's observed, during an afternoon call, that she believed that "officers wives were very dressy," the young ladies were at once resolved to keep a sharp lookout for the Captain's wife's bonnet in church on Christmas day.
The Bulls had just taken their seats when the Captain's wife came in. They really would have hid their faces, and looked at the bonnet afterwards, but for the startling sight that met the gaze of the congregation. The old grandfather walked into the church abreast of the Captain.
"They've met in the porch," whispered Mr. Bull, under the shelter of his hat.
"They can't quarrel publicly in a place of worship," said Mrs. Bull, turning pale.
"She's gone into his seat," cried Lucy Jane, in a shrill whisper.
"And the children after her," added the other sister, incautiously aloud.