o good as youth, my dear fellow? Let us hold it fast, say I, as
long as we can!"

"Yes!" growled the Colonel. "But you wouldn't have said that before you
came here, Raymond Ferrers; and I shouldn't have said it before
Hildegarde Grahame came here,--"

"And her mother!" put in Raymond.

"And her mother, of course!" cried the Colonel, testily. "She never
thought of coming here without her mother, did she? Don't be a quibbler,
my good fellow! If there is one thing I find it difficult to have
Christian patience with, it is a quibbler. I tell you, sir, that before
those people came here my life was a stagnant fish-pond, sir; with no
fish in it, either, and--and it shows what a young woman can do, sir,
when she is willing just to _be_ a young woman, and to minister
cheerfulness and joy and--and affection to the people around her. Three
years ago I had not a friend in the world,--or thought I had not, which
amounts to the same thing,--except a round-shouldered fiddle-maker in
another State, whom I never expected to see again. I was morose, sir! I
was unfit for human companionship! And now--" the Colonel stopped to
wipe his eye-glasses, and blew his nose portentously--"now I have a son
in my own house,--two sons just now, for if you pretend that Jack is
more your son than mine, I scoff at you, sir, and I deride you!--and a
daughter close by, who will come to me if my little finger aches. And to
that daughter, sir,--under Providence," and the Colonel bowed his head
and dropped his voice,--"to Hildegarde Grahame, I owe all this, and
more. So I say,--"

"Here they come!" cried Hugh, who had been watching from the window.
"Here they all come, Guardian! My Beloved and her mother, and after them
all the others. Oh! but Captain Roger is not with them!"

The four hosts hurried out into the hall to meet their guests, and many
and warm were the greetings. Hildegarde in white, Bell in pink, and
Gertrude in blue, looked like a posy of fresh flowers, and Kitty like
the little rosebud she was. Mrs. Merryweather and Mrs. Grahame were
already taking off their wraps, and Miles Merryweather and Phil brought
up the rear, with Willy.

"Where's the Professor?" cried the hospitable Colonel, rubbing his
hands. "Where is Professor Roger? I was definitely promised that he
would be here."

Where was Roger? Hildegarde's heart echoed the question; and though she
greeted the Colonel with her own bright smile, it was rather an effort
to be as gay a