for long,
he averred, they had seemed to him.

"Well now, they didn't to me," laughed Lucilla; "on the contrary, I
thought them very short; time fairly flew."

"And was so filled with interesting occurrences that you hardly
thought of your absent friends?"

"Oh, yes; I did think of them, occasionally even of you, Chester," she
said in sportive tone. "Really, I do wish you could have seen and
enjoyed all that we did. Were you moping at home all the time?"

"Not all the time; much of it found me very busy; and for a fortnight
I was away on a boating excursion with some friends."

"I am glad of that, for I am sure you needed some rest. Sometimes I
think you are too hard a worker. Don't forget the old saying that 'All
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'"

But there the talk was interrupted by another arrival--the carriage
from The Oaks, bringing all that family, including Chester's sister
Sydney. They were on their way to Ion to welcome Grandma Elsie home,
so made but a short call.

The Roselands people were urged to stay to tea, but declined, and
presently took their leave. But they had scarcely gone, when Violet's
brothers Harold and Herbert came, and they stayed to tea. They were
bright and genial as usual; Chester, too, was gay and lively; and so
altogether they constituted a blithe and merry party.

The evening brought the families from Ashlands, Pinegrove, and The
Laurels, and the next day those from Fairview, Beechwood, and
Riverside. Rosie expressed herself as charmed with her new home, and
insisted upon having them all there to tea with her mother and old Mr.
and Mrs. Dinsmore. The other relatives she had already entertained,
she said; and she was planning to have all at once at no very distant
day.

"Surely we can wait for that, Rosie," said the captain, "and content
ourselves with a call upon you and a sight of your pretty home,
leaving the greater visit to the time you speak of."

"No, Brother Levis, I won't be satisfied with that," she said. "I want
you all to take tea with us to-morrow evening."

"Are you not willing that we should, father?" asked Lucilla.

"Yes, if you wish to do so," he replied; and as all expressed
themselves desirous to accept the invitation, they did so; and they
were so well and hospitably entertained that everyone was delighted.
They returned home rather early in the evening, on account of the
little ones. Violet took them upstairs at once, and Grace went to her
roo