n that momentous occasion when they went to
see him to ask him to send them out to the land of the Southern Cross.

"If Father is cross because he did not know that we were coming I shall
just stand up and say that it was all my fault, and that the others were
not to blame at all," said Rumple to himself, and then he mentally
rehearsed the little scene and the speech he would make until he forgot
all about his supper, and just sat by the table staring out through the
door, which had been left wide open for the sake of coolness, and the
strained look on his face made Nealie's heart ache.

On her own part she was a prey to acute anxiety, and she was dreading
most of all the first look which would show on the face of her father
when he knew that his family had come to him. If the look were pleasure,
then everything would be possible, and nothing else would matter; but
if there were dismay or regret in his expression, she felt that she
would never be able to bear her life again. Sylvia had no such fears;
her nature was so different from Nealie's, and she rarely troubled about
things which were under the surface, and so was spared many worries and
much heartache; while Don, Billykins, and Ducky were only tired of the
long waiting until their father should come, and they were already
beginning to yawn widely because they were so sleepy.

"Where shall we all sleep to-night, Sylvia?" demanded Ducky presently,
breaking in upon quite a lengthy silence, and voicing the very question
which was so sorely troubling Nealie at that moment, although she rose
from the table and passed into the other room, where Rupert lay, and
pretended that she had not heard the query.

"Oh, we shall manage somehow, and there is always the wagon, you know,
if everything else fails!" said Sylvia vaguely; and then she sprang to
her feet with a sudden eager movement, for to her strained listening
there had come the sound of a horse's feet on the road, a smart trot
which slackened down by the gate outside, not as if the animal had been
pulled up, but had stopped of its own accord.

"It is Father!" she said in a whisper, just as if the power of audible
speech had left her, and then she started for the door, followed by
Ducky and the three boys; but Nealie, busy with Rupert, had heard no
sound of arrival as yet.

They had lighted a lamp when the sun went down, and now Sylvia stood on
the threshold, with the four younger ones crowding about her, and the