“Well, you ought to pity his mother,” replied Viola, “for that boy is never satisfied unless he is doing something where there is danger of being hurt.”
“By the by, Viola, yonder comes Harry and Edward; I wonder what brought them home so early?”
“Ah! Lottie,” replied Viola, “they wanted to be with us; don’t you think we have got the best husbands in the world?”
“Indeed, I do; and we ought never to forget our obligations to God for His goodness to us.”
“I shall never do that as long as life lasts.”
Doctor Demar lifted his pretty little daughter from the ground as she came running to meet him, and seated her on his shoulder and began to dance round with her, while Harry began to romp with his boy, who was galloping about astraddle of a stick which he was lashing with a whip.
“Edward,” said Lottie, as she ran her hand under his arm, “how did you manage to get here so soon? We did not expect you for two hours yet.”
“Because we were both in love with our pretty wives, and wanted to be with them; and because we knew that our wives were in love with their ugly old husbands. Now, darling, I demand toll for coming so early; give me a kiss.”
“Take it, old Barbarian Chief, and hand Lottie to me.”
Mr. Rockland, whose hair had grown very white, was sitting on an easy chair on the front portico, watching the happy group on the green lawn.