y the child threw
her two arms around his neck. He held her close, then he kissed her
and laid her gently back upon the pillow.

"Good night, kiddie," he whispered softly, and tip-toed out of the room.

Nonie gave one long, happy sigh, then, cuddling down under the covers,
dropped off into dreamless slumber.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A LETTER FROM THE MASTER

Four days had passed since Nancy had written her confession and sent it
off to Peter Hyde. They had seemed endless, too, in spite of all the
strange changes at Happy House. Aunt Sabrina and Aunt Milly were
pathetically and helplessly busy over the new member of the family, and
his coming had necessitated momentous reforms in the habits of the
household and long arguments as to the proper care of infants. B'lindy
had finally found somewhere in the back of a "Household Helper" a
chapter on the "Care of the Child," and went about all day with a
finger between its pages and a superior look on her face.

Nancy had spent one entire afternoon at the Hopworth's. Nonie and Davy
had come for her and had dragged her back with them to see their "Dad."

"Ask him to tell you 'bout----" and Davy had breathlessly, rattled off
a dozen or more of the war tales that he had liked best.

Nancy had thought, that afternoon, that, somehow or other, the Hopworth
kitchen had changed since that first day she had visited it. It was
cleaner, homier; there was less litter, the air was not so heavy with
the stale odors of cooking. Old Dan'l sat near the open door smoking
the pipe Eric had brought him, his eyes following Eric's every
movement. Liz, fussing about over household tasks, was less dominant,
less forbidding, and the tired look had gone from her face.

With the children's chatter Eric Hopworth's shyness soon wore off.
Nonie had told him of the pleasant days at Happy House with Nancy; he
felt a deep gratitude to these people who had been doing for his two
"kiddies" what he should have done. At Davy's coaxing he had repeated
for Nancy some of the incidents of the war in which he had shared.
Davy had proudly exhibited the precious trophies that had come home in
his father's luggage.

"And Dad's going to stay home always and always now," Nonie had
announced. Then Eric Hopworth explained that he had taken a position
in a big manufacturing plant at Burlington.

"The boss there was my captain. It'll do for a start. After a bit,
maybe, I can take the family there, though P