if nothing happens to prevent."

"We will take up our studies again, papa, just as the little ones do,
will we not?" asked Lucilla.

"Meaning Grace and yourself, I suppose?" he said inquiringly, and with
a look of amusement.

"Yes, sir; except Evelyn, we are your only other pupils just now."

"You can both begin when the younger ones do, if you like," he
replied; and Grace said, "You may be quite sure we will like to do so,
papa."

"Papa, when will Brother Max come home?" asked Ned.

"I think we may expect him about the last of next January," was the
reply.

"And how soon does January come, papa?"

"This is October: November comes next, then December, and next after
that is January."

"Oh, such a long while!" sighed Ned. "I want to see Max so badly that
I don't know how to wait."

"Pretty much the way papa feels about it," returned his father.

"And as we all do," said Violet. "I wish the dear fellow had chosen
work that could be done at home."

"But somebody must go into the navy, my dear," said his father. "A
good navy is very necessary for the safety of the country."

"That is true," she returned; "and I know of no more honorable
employment."

"And employment of some kind we all should have. I know of nothing
more ignoble than a life of idleness. It is sure to tempt to something
worse. 'Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.'"

"Yes," said Violet, "and the Bible bids us to be 'diligent in
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.'"

"And in the fourth commandment we are bidden, 'Six days shalt thou
labor and do all thy work.' It makes no exception; recognizes no
privileged class who may take their ease in idleness."

"Yet there are times when one is really weary, that rest is right, are
there not?" said Violet. "I remember that at one time Jesus said to
his disciples, 'Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest
a while.'"

"Yes; there are times when rest is very necessary, and by taking it
one is enabled to do more in the end."

"And we have just had a nice long rest," said Grace; "so ought to be
able to go to work earnestly and make good progress in our studies."

"So I think," said Lucilla; then added laughingly, "and I'm glad
father doesn't turn me out of the schoolroom because I've grown so big
and old."

"You are still small enough, and young enough, to demean yourself as
one under authority," remarked the captain in pleasant tones;
"otherwise you woul