unt Sophia Tredgold."

But she spoke to empty air--Mr. Dale was still busy over his toilet.

"Whom are you addressing by that hideous name?" said Miss Sophia. "Do you
mean to tell me you call your father Paddy?"

"We all do," said Penelope.

"Of course we do," said Verena, who had followed behind.

"That is our name for the dear old boy," said Pauline, who stood just
behind Verena, while all the other children stood behind Pauline.

It was in this fashion that the entire party invaded Mr. Dale's sanctum.
Miss Tredgold gazed around her, her face filled with a curious mixture of
amazement and indignation.

"I had an intuition that I ought to come here," she said aloud. "I did
not want to come, but I obeyed what I now know was the direct call of
duty. I shall stay here as long as I am wanted. My mission will be to
bring order out of chaos--to reduce all those who entertain rebellion to
submission--to try to turn vulgar, hoydenish little girls into ladies."

"Oh, oh! I say, aunty, that is hard on us!" burst from Josephine.

"My dear, I don't know your name, but it is useless for you to make those
ugly exclamations. Whatever your remarks, whatever your words, I shall
take no notice. You may struggle as you will, but I am the stronger. Oh!
here comes---- Is it possible? My dear Henry, what years it is since we
met! Don't you remember me--your sister-in-law Sophia? I was but a little
girl when you married my dear sister. It is quite affecting to meet you
again. How do you do?"

Miss Tredgold advanced to meet her brother-in-law. Mr. Dale put both his
hands behind his back.

"Are you sorry to see me?" asked Miss Tredgold. "Oh, dear, this is
terrible!"

The next instant the horrified man found that Miss Tredgold had kissed
him calmly and with vigor on each cheek. Even his own children were never
permitted to kiss Mr. Dale. To tell the truth, he was the last sort of
person anybody would care to kiss. His face resembled a piece of
parchment, being much withered and wrinkled and dried up. There was an
occasion in the past when Verena had taken his scholarly hand and raised
it to her lips, but even that form of endearment he objected to.

"I forgive you, dear," he said; "but please don't do it again. We can
love each other without these marks of an obsolete and forgotten age.
Kissing, my dear, is too silly to be endured in our day."

That Miss Tredgold should kiss him was therefore an indignity which the
miserable man