?" she said inquiringly, and with a timid look up into his
face.

"Yes," he said, holding out his hand to her with a fatherly smile: "and
you, I suppose, are my Lulu's little friend, Evelyn Leland?"

"Yes, sir: we--uncle Lester, aunt Elsie, little Ned, and I--have been
away visiting at some distance, and did not hear of--of the baby's bad
fall till we came home this afternoon. We are all so sorry, so very
sorry! Aunt Elsie is with aunt Vi now; and I--oh! please, sir, may I go
to Lulu?"

"My dear little girl, I should like to say yes, for your sake,--and
Lulu's too,--but for the present I think best not to allow her to see
any one," he said in a kindly tone, and affectionately pressing the
little hand she had put into his. "But," seeing the disappointment in
her face, "I entirely approve of the intimacy, and hope it will be kept
up; for I think it has been of benefit to Lulu."

"Thank you, sir," she returned, coloring with pleasure. "But Lulu told
me you had quite determined to send her away from here: I hope you will
reconsider, and--let her stay," with a very coaxing look up into his
face.

He smiled. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked,--"one from Lulu only, and
that for but a few days?"

"Try me, sir," she answered brightly.

"I will. I have left the navy, and expect to settle down in this
neighborhood. In that case, you and Lulu will not be separated; for my
strongest reason for the change was, that I might have her constantly
with me, and train her up as I think she should be trained; as perhaps
no one but her father can train her."

Evelyn's face had grown very bright. "Oh, how delighted, how happy Lu
will be when she hears it!" she exclaimed; "for, do you know, sir, she
thinks there is nobody in the world to compare to her father?"

Those words brought a glad look into his face for the moment.

"Yes," he said, "she is a warm-hearted, affectionate child; a dear
child, in spite of her quick temper."

A door had opened and closed: a step was coming down the hall, and a
cheerful voice in his rear said, "Captain, I have good news for you:
there has been a great, a really wonderful change for the better in the
last hour; the child will live, and I hope, I believe, entirely recover
from the injuries caused by her fall."

Before the doctor's sentence was finished, the captain had turned, and
caught his hand in a vice-like grasp: his eyes filled, his breast heaved
with emotions too big for utterance; he shook