y--nobody except my father. The others have brothers and
sisters and friends, and all they want--and I have nothing."

"Except your father," added Mrs. Clark. "How about him? Sometimes when
two people are left lonely they can make the world blossom again for one
another. Isn't it time you began to take your mother's place? Can't you
set yourself these holidays to give him such a bright, cheerful daughter
that he'll hardly want to part with you when you go back to school?
Wouldn't you rather _he_ missed you than your chums? He's closer to you
than they are. Ask yourself if you were to lose him is there one of your
friends who could mean as much to you? I sometimes think that girls who
are brought up at boarding-school are apt to lose the right sense of
value of their own relations. Their companions and the games fill their
lives, and they go back for the holidays almost like visitors in their
own homes. When they leave school they're dissatisfied and restless,
because they've never been accustomed to suit themselves to the ways of
the household, and have no niche into which they can fit. The old round
of 'camaraderie' is over, and they have been trained for nothing but
community life. Take my advice and make your niche now while you have
the opportunity. Show your father you want him, and that he's your best
friend, and he'll begin to realize that _he_ wants _you_. How old are
you? Nearly sixteen! In another year or so you should be able to live
with him altogether and be the companion to him that he needs. You say
you envy girls with many brothers and sisters, but there's another side
to that--if you're the only child you get the whole of the love.
Remember you're all your father has, and let him see that you care. It's
a greater thing to be a good daughter than to be the favorite of the
school. If you keep that object in view you ought to have many years of
happiness before you."

"I know. I was forgetting that side of it," said Lorna slowly.

"Think it over then, for its worth considering. A woman may have many
brothers and sisters, she can have another husband or another child, but
it's only one father or mother she'll get, and the bond is a close one.
Is that Irene waving to us? What is she calling? We're to come on with
the party! Yes indeed, we ought to be moving along. We shall only just
have time to explore the other temples before we must start back in the
char-a-banc."

CHAPTER XIX

In Capri

Ap