---"
he said musingly.

"Oh no! no! my dear father," she hastily interposed, as he paused, leaving
his sentence unfinished, "the work should be mine if undertaken at all."

"Perhaps," he said, "it might be tried for a short time as a mere
experiment, to be continued only if the children do not prove
ungovernable, or likely to be an injury to our own; for our first duty is
to them."

"Yes indeed, papa!" responded his daughter earnestly. "And nothing can be
really decided upon until Capt. Raymond comes. He may have other plans for
his children."

"Yes, it is quite possible he may think best to place Max and Lulu at
school somewhere."

"But poor little sick Gracie!" said Violet, the tears springing to her
eyes. "Mamma, I do want to have her to love and pet, and I think if we had
her here with our good old mammy to nurse her, and Cousin Arthur to attend
her, she might grow to be strong and healthy."

"Dear child! I am glad to hear you say that!" said Elsie, "for it is just
as I have been thinking and feeling. My heart yearns over the poor
motherless children, and that little feeble one very especially."

Capt. Raymond was deeply touched when, shortly after his arrival at Ion to
claim his bride, he learned what was in her heart and her mother's toward
his children.

After due deliberation it was settled that the experiment should be tried.
Arrangements were made for the whole family to spend the summer in two
adjoining cottages at a lovely seaside resort on the New England coast,
Mrs. Dinsmore to be mistress of one house, Violet of the other, while the
captain could be with her, which he had reason to expect would be for
several months.

In the fall he would probably be ordered away; then Violet would return to
Ion with her mother and the rest of the family, taking his children with
her, if Mr. Dinsmore and Elsie should still feel willing to take them in
charge. He had a high opinion of Dr. Conly's skill as a physician, and
was extremely anxious to place Gracie under his care. Also he thought that
to no other persons in the world would he so joyfully commit his children
to be trained up and educated as to Mr. Dinsmore, his daughter and
granddaughter, and he was more than willing to delegate to them his own
authority during his absences from home.

The marriage would take place at Ion, the bride and groom start northward
the same day on a wedding tour. On the return trip to the spot which was
to be their home for