er died before I was seventeen, a year before my father did,
and I used to wake up in the night and cry, because I was so afraid he
would marry again."

"But you married papa," Theodora said slowly.

"I know I did. Since then, Theodora, I have come to see the other side
of it all. But I remember the way I used to feel about it; and I know
that you think I am an interloper here. Hope doesn't mind it so much,
nor Hubert; it is hardest of all for you." She paused and stroked the
brown hair again.

Theodora sat silent, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"I sha'n't mean to come between you and your father, Theodora," Mrs.
McAlister went on; "and I shall never expect to take your own mother's
place. And yet, in time I hope you can care for me a little, too."

Suddenly the girl turned and laid her lithe young arm across her
stepmother's knee.

"I think I can--in time," she said. "It takes me a good while to get
used to new things, some new things, that is, and I didn't want somebody
to come here and drive my own mother farther off. She was different from
everybody else, somehow. But your mother died, and you'll understand
about it." Her tone was quiet and dispassionate, yet, underneath, it
rang true, and Mrs. McAlister was satisfied.

"Thank you, Teddy," she said gently. "Or would you rather I called you
Theodora?"

"Theodora, please," the girl answered, flushing a little. "Teddy was my
baby name; but I'm not a baby any longer. The others have called me
Teddy so long that I can't break them of the habit; but I don't like the
name."

"It suits you, though," Mrs. McAlister said, smiling as her eyes rested
on the intent young face beside her. "But I'll try to remember. And now
I wish you'd tell me a little about the younger ones, Phebe and Allyn.
Your father told me that Hope was the housekeeper, but that, in some
ways, you were the real mother of them all."

Theodora's face lighted, and she laughed.

"Did he truly say that? Hope has the real care of them, and she never
fights with them, as I do."

There was an amusing, off-hand directness in Theodora's tone which
pleased her stepmother. Already she felt more at home and on cordial
terms with the outspoken girl than with the gentle, courteous Hope; yet
she realized that her own course was by no means open before her, that
it would be long before Theodora would accept her sway in the home. It
would be necessary to proceed slowly, but firmly. Little Allyn and
fractious P