my children's
welfare than I ever have before since they lost their mother."

"I am very glad of that, Levis," Violet said, her eyes shining with
pleasure, "and I do believe they will have a happy life at Ion."

"It will certainly be their own fault if they do not," he replied.

* * * * *

Rose Travilla was somewhat less amiable in disposition than her mother and
older sisters, and had been much disgusted with Lulu's exhibition of
temper that evening.

Talking with her mother afterward in her dressing-room, "Mamma," she said,
"I wish you hadn't offered to let Lulu Raymond live with us at Ion. I
don't at all like the way she behaves, and I wish you and grandpa would
tell her father to send her off to boarding-school."

"That is an unkind wish, Rose," said her mother. "Perhaps if you had had
the same treatment Lulu has been subjected to since her mother's death,
you might have shown as bad a temper as hers. Haven't you some pity for
the little girl, when you reflect that she is motherless?"

"I don't think she could have a sweeter mother than our Vi," was the
unexpected rejoinder. "But she doesn't appreciate her in the least," Rose
went on, "but seems always on the watch against any effort on Vi's part to
control her."

"She seems to be naturally impatient of control by whomsoever exerted,"
Mrs. Travilla said, "but we will hope to see her improve in that respect,
and you must set her a good example, Rose.

"And I want you to think how sad it would be for her to be parted from the
brother and sister she loves so dearly and sent away alone to
boarding-school. I shall never forget how alarmed and distressed I was
when your grandpa threatened me with one."

"Did he, mamma?" asked Rosie, opening her eyes very wide with surprise.

"Yes, he was very much displeased with me at the time," her mother said
with a sigh. "But we will not talk about it; the recollection is very
painful to me."

"No, mamma; but I cannot get over my astonishment, for I thought you were
never naughty, even when you were a little child."

"Quite a mistake, Rosie; I had my naughty times as well as other
children," Mrs. Travilla said, smiling at Rosie's bewildered look. "But
now I want you to promise me, my child, that you will be kind and
forbearing toward poor little motherless Lulu."

"Well, mamma, to please you I will; but I hope she won't try me too much
by impertinence to you or Violet. I don't think I can