out his arm.

"Little daughter," he said, in a tremulous voice. The love of a lifetime
seemed to tremble in those two words.

In an instant her arms were around his neck, and he was "kissing away
the sorry feelin's" as tenderly as the lost Amanthis could have done.

As soon as Lloyd began to realize what was happening, her face grew
radiant. She danced around in such excitement that Fritz barked wildly.

"Come an' see Papa Jack, too," she cried, leading him into the next
room.

Whatever deep-rooted prejudices Jack Sherman may have had, they were
unselfishly put aside after one look into his wife's happy face.

He raised himself on his elbow as the dignified old soldier crossed the
room. The white hair, the empty sleeve, the remembrance of all the old
man had lost, and the thought that after all he was Elizabeth's father,
sent a very tender feeling through the younger man's heart.

"Will you take my hand, sir?" he asked, sitting up and offering it in
his straightforward way.

"Of co'se he will!" exclaimed Lloyd, who still clung to her
grandfather's arm. "Of co'se he will!"

"I have been too near death to harbour ill will any longer," said the
younger man, as their hands met in a strong, forgiving clasp.

The old Colonel smiled grimly.

"I had thought that even death itself could not make me give in," he
said, "but I've had to make a complete surrender to the Little Colonel."
That Christmas there was such a celebration at Locust that May Lilly
and Henry Clay nearly went wild in the general excitement of the
preparation. Walker hung up cedar and holly and mistletoe till the
big house looked like a bower. Maria bustled about, airing rooms and
bringing out stores of linen and silver.

The Colonel himself filled the great punch-bowl that his grandfather had
brought from Virginia.

"I'm glad we're goin' to stay heah to-night," said Lloyd, as she hung up
her stocking Christmas Eve. "It will be so much easiah fo' Santa Claus
to get down these big chimneys."

In the morning when she found four tiny stockings hanging beside her
own, overflowing with candy for Fritz, her happiness was complete.

That night there was a tree in the drawing-room that reached to the
frescoed ceiling. When May Lilly came in to admire it and get her share
from its loaded branches, Lloyd came skipping up to her. "Oh, I'm goin'
to live heah all wintah," she cried. "Mom Beck's goin' to stay heah with
me, too, while mothah an' Papa Jack go