has
been alternately my joy and my despair; and I am resolved to leave no
effort untried to rescue her from the dominion of her fierce temper.

"The task would doubtless have been far easier could I have undertaken
it years ago, in her early infancy. But I trust it is not yet too late
to accomplish it, with the help and the wisdom I may have in answer to
prayer.

"No, I am sure it is by no means a hopeless undertaking, looking where
you do for needed strength and wisdom; and I rejoice almost as much for
Lulu's sake as for Vi's, that you have now come among us to stay. I will
try to see her in the morning, and do what I can to make it easy for her
to join the family circle again.

"And now good-night. I must not keep you longer from the wife who
grudges every moment that you are absent from her side," she concluded,
with a smile as sweet and beautiful as that of her girlhood's days.

While the captain and his mother-in-law held this little conversation in
the upper hall, Zoe and Rosie were promenading the veranda, arm in arm.
They had been talking of Violet and her baby, rejoicing together over
its improved condition.

"How dreadful the last two days have been to poor Vi!" exclaimed Rosie,
"even in spite of the home-coming of her husband, which has always
before this made her so happy. In fact, it has been a dreadful time to
all of us; and nobody to blame except that bad-tempered Lulu.

"At least, so _I_ think," she added, conscience giving her a twinge;
"though mamma says I ought to have let her have my pony, and taken my
own ride later in the day, if I wanted one."

"It would have been more polite and unselfish, wouldn't it?" queried
Zoe, in a teasing tone. "I dare say it is what mamma herself would have
done under the same circumstances."

"I have no doubt of that," returned Rosie; "but mamma and I are two very
different people. I can never hope to be as good and unselfish as she
is, and always has been so far as I can learn."

"Ah! but there's nothing like trying," laughed Zoe.

"Suppose you tell Lulu that, advising her to undertake the task of
controlling her temper."

"She was quite a good while without an outbreak," said Zoe; "and really,
Rosie, that dog of yours is extremely trying at times."

"It's quite trying to me, that I've had to send him away, and can't have
him about any more till Lulu's gone. I'll be sorry to have Vi leave Ion,
but rejoiced to be rid of Lulu. I wonder if the captain still