," admitted Esther. "But we ought to. It--well, it is always
supposed to be right. We shall grow up like savages, Aunt Julia says, and
not be fit to talk to any one or go anywhere, and we shan't have any
friends; and every one _ought_ to make nice friends; it looks so bad if
one has none--"

"Miss Esther! Miss Esther!" called a sharp voice from the kitchen door.
"You must all come in at once. Your ma wants you immejutly--all of you."

Esther rose, a little anxious pucker gathering on her brow as she
remembered the Canadian letter.

"Come along, Pen," she said impatiently. "I wonder what it is. Bad news
from father, I expect."

"P'r'aps it's good news," said Penelope hopefully, rising with a sigh of
regret at having to leave her nest and the sunshine and the butterflies.
Somehow, though, she did not really expect any such thing. "P'r'aps we
are to go, at last. Oh," with sudden excitement, "wouldn't it be
perfectly lovely! Oh, Essie, wouldn't it be splendid! Do let's run in
and see if that is what it is mother wants us for."

CHAPTER II.

"Children, _do_ make haste! How long you do take coming when I send for
you! And I've had such news I am really quite bewildered, and haven't a
moment to spare. All my plans are changed in a minute, and I can hardly
realise all I have to do. I have heard from your father. He wants me to
come out to him, and I am going, at once; of course, I _must_ go.
I couldn't refuse to, and--you must all go to live with your Aunt Julia.
I know you don't like her--and it is very naughty and ungrateful of you--
but I can't do anything else, and you must make up your minds to behave."

Mrs. Carroll paused at last from want of breath, and the children gasped
in sympathy.

They had barely entered the dining-room when this cataract of speech was
turned on them by their mother, with every appearance of excitement and
gratification. All her usual melancholy apathy was thrown aside; her face
was alight with pleasure, her eyes bright with excitement. Mrs. Carroll
loved to be the bearer of startling news, to spring a surprise on people--
just as she loved to have a pleasant one sprung on herself. She adored
excitement, and under its influence saw nothing but the one thing that
appealed to her at the moment.

Now, after hastily scanning her husband's letter, she grasped the one fact
that he thought she might come out to him very soon. What the change
might mean to others, never