hould have found
no society but my own this afternoon, for Mrs. Vavasour was
going to pay visits, she said, and Maria went out directly
after lunch."

"And you think your own society would have been less peaceable
than that of these noisy little ruffians?"

"I don't know," she answered; "I like walking by myself very
much sometimes, but I like the children, too, and Madge and I
are great friends."

"I think Madge shows her sense--she and I are great friends,
too," said Graham, laughing.

"Madge thinks there is no one in the world like Uncle Horace--
she is always talking about you," said Madelon, shyly.

"That is strange--to me she is always talking about you--she
looks upon you as a sort of fairy princess, I believe, who has
lived in a charmed world as strange to her as any she reads
about in story-books. Madge's experiences are limited, and it
does not take much to set her little brain working. If Maria
and I are abroad next winter, I think I must get Georgie to
spare her to me for a time."

"Are you going abroad again?" said Madelon; and as she asked
the question, a chill shadow seemed to fall upon the bright
spring landscape.

"It is possible-- I have heard of an opening."

He paused for a moment, and then went on,--

"I don't know why I should not tell you all about it, Madelon,
though I have said nothing about it to any one yet--but it will
be no secret. I had a letter this morning telling me that
there is an opening for a physician at L----, that small place
on the Mediterranean, you know, that has come so much into
fashion lately as a winter place for invalids. Dr. B----, an old
friend of mine, who is there now, is going to leave it, and he
has written to give me the first offer of being his
successor."

"And shall you go?" asked Madelon.

"Well, I should like it well enough for a good many reasons,
for the next two or three years, at any rate. It is a lovely
place, a good climate, and I should not feel myself tied down
if anything else turned up that suited me better; but there
are other considerations--in fact, I cannot decide without
thinking it well over."

"But at any rate, you would not go there till next winter,
would you?" said Madelon, with a tremor in her voice which she
vainly tried to conceal.

"Not to stop; but if I accept this offer, I should go out
immediately for a week or two, so as to get introduced to B----
's patients before they leave. A good many will be returning
nex