'

'I thought you were an invalid, Harry,' said Dr. May, with a laughing
yet tearful ring in his agitated tone, as he packed himself and his son
in.

'Ay! I wished I could have let you know sooner how well I had got over
it,' said Harry, in the deep full voice of strong healthy manhood. 'I
am afraid you have been very anxious.'

'We are used to it, my boy,' said the Doctor huskily, stroking the
great firm fingers that were lying lovingly on his knee, 'and if it
always ends in this way, it ought to do us more good than harm.'

'It has not done harm, I hope,' said Harry, catching him up quick. 'Not
to old Mary?'

'No, Mary works things off, good girl. I flatter myself you will find
us all in high preservation.'

'All--all at home! That's right.'

'Yes, those infants from Maplewood and all. You are sure you are all
right, Harry?'

'As sure as my own feelings can make me, and the surgeon of the Dexter
to back them,' said Harry. 'I don't believe my lungs were touched
after all, but you shall all sit upon me when you like--Tom and all.
It was a greater escape than I looked for,' he added, in a lower voice.
'I did not think to have had another Christmas here.'

The silence lasted for the few moments till the carriage drew up behind
the limes; the doors were thrown open, and the Doctor shouted to the
timid anxious figure that alone was allowed to appear in the hall,
'Come and lift him out, Mary.'

The drawing-room was a goodly sight that evening; and the Doctor, as he
sat leaning back in weary happiness, might be well satisfied with the
bright garland that still clustered round his hearth, though the age of
almost all forbade their old title of Daisies. The only one who still
asserted her right to that name was perched on the sailor's knee,
insisting on establishing that there was as much room for her there as
there had been three years ago; though, as he had seated himself on a
low foot-stool, her feet were sometimes on the ground, and moreover her
throne was subject to sudden earthquakes, which made her, nothing loth,
cling to his neck, draw his arm closer round her, and lean on his broad
breast, proud that universal consent declared her his likeness in the
family; and the two presenting a pleasant contrasting similarity--the
open honest features, blue eyes, and smile, expressive of hearty
good-will and simple happiness, were so entirely of the same mould in
the plump, white-skinned, rosy-cheeked, golden-h