patience, and you will see presently," he answered with a smile.

"Mamma Vi, do you know?" she asked.

"It is your father's secret," said Violet. "I should not presume to tell
you when he declines doing so."

"We shall know in a very few minutes, Lu," said Evelyn: "it is only a
short drive to Woodburn."

"I was thinking about that name," said Grace. "Papa, why do they call it
Woodburn? There's woods,--do they burn them sometimes? They don't look
as if they'd ever been burned."

"I don't think they have," he said, "except such parts of them as dry
twigs and fallen branches, that could be picked up from the ground, or
now and then a tree that it was thought best to cut down, or that fell
of itself. But you know, there is a pretty little brook running across
the estate, and in Scotland such a stream is called a burn; so, having a
wood and a burn, Woodburn is a very appropriate name."

"Yes, papa, I think it is, and a pretty name too. Thank you for
explaining it, and not laughing at my mistake."

"Even papa doesn't know nearly every thing, little daughter," he said,
stroking and patting the small hand she had laid on his knee, "so it
would be quite out of place for him to laugh at you for asking a
sensible question. We should never be ashamed to ask for information
that we need. It is much wiser than to remain in ignorance for fear of
being laughed at."

"And her father always gives information so kindly and patiently,"
remarked Violet.

"And I think he knows '_most_ every thing," said Grace. "Oh, I did guess
right! for here we are at Woodburn."

They drove and walked about the grounds, admiring, criticising, planning
improvements; then called on Miss Elliott, and, with her readily
accorded permission, went over the house.

Violet and the captain selected a suite of rooms for their own
occupation, and he decided which the children should use.

A bedroom opening from their own was selected for Grace, the adjoining
room beyond for Lulu; and another, into which both these latter opened,
they were told should be their own little sitting-room.

Besides these, a tiny apartment in a tower, communicating with Lulu's
bedroom, was given to her. The sitting-room opened into the hall also,
so that it was not necessary to pass through one bedroom to reach the
other.

They were all bright, cheerful rooms, with a pleasant outlook from every
window: in the sitting-room there were French windows opening upon a
balcony.