to these amiable young persons.

"It's the nicest place in the world, isn't it, Demi?" said Daisy, who
evidently regarded her brother as authority on all subjects.

"No, I think Greenland, where the icebergs and seals are, is more
interesting. But I'm fond of Plumfield, and it is a very nice place
to be in," returned Demi, who was interested just now in a book on
Greenland. He was about to offer to show Nat the pictures and
explain them, when the servant returned, saying with a nod toward the
parlor-door:

"All right; you are to stop."

"I'm glad; now come to Aunt Jo." And Daisy took him by the hand with a
pretty protecting air, which made Nat feel at home at once.

Demi returned to his beloved book, while his sister led the new-comer
into a back room, where a stout gentleman was frolicking with two little
boys on the sofa, and a thin lady was just finishing the letter which
she seemed to have been re-reading.

"Here he is, aunty!" cried Daisy.

"So this is my new boy? I am glad to see you, my dear, and hope you'll
be happy here," said the lady, drawing him to her, and stroking back the
hair from his forehead with a kind hand and a motherly look, which made
Nat's lonely little heart yearn toward her.

She was not at all handsome, but she had a merry sort of face that never
seemed to have forgotten certain childish ways and looks, any more than
her voice and manner had; and these things, hard to describe but very
plain to see and feel, made her a genial, comfortable kind of person,
easy to get on with, and generally "jolly," as boys would say. She saw
the little tremble of Nat's lips as she smoothed his hair, and her keen
eyes grew softer, but she only drew the shabby figure nearer and said,
laughing:

"I am Mother Bhaer, that gentleman is Father Bhaer, and these are the
two little Bhaers. Come here, boys, and see Nat."

The three wrestlers obeyed at once; and the stout man, with a chubby
child on each shoulder, came up to welcome the new boy. Rob and Teddy
merely grinned at him, but Mr. Bhaer shook hands, and pointing to a low
chair near the fire, said, in a cordial voice:

"There is a place all ready for thee, my son; sit down and dry thy wet
feet at once."

"Wet? So they are! My dear, off with your shoes this minute, and I'll
have some dry things ready for you in a jiffy," cried Mrs. Bhaer,
bustling about so energetically that Nat found himself in the cosy
little chair, with dry socks and warm slippers