“Yes, Hope is a good one,” Allyn said, though without much enthusiasm; “but Ted is worth ten of her, according to my notions.”  And Cicely nodded up at him in token of agreement.

By the time dinner was over, the evening had grown chilly, and the McAlisters drew up their chairs around the open fire.

“All here once more, thank God!” the doctor said contentedly, as he settled himself between Theodora and Mrs. Holden.

“This seems just like the good old times,” Theodora added.  “It’s five years since we were all here together, like this.  Doesn’t it make you feel as if you had never been away, Hope?”

“Yes, almost.  If Allyn weren’t quite so grown up and Billy so lively, I should believe we were children again.  Ted, do you remember the first night that Archie came here?”

“The night I went slumming and stole the child?  I should say I did.  Archie didn’t take it kindly at all, when he found the infant in his bed.”

“That reminds me, papa,” Phebe said abruptly; “Isabel and I want to take some fresh-air children, next week.”

“Why, Babe, I don’t see how you can,” Theodora remonstrated.

“I didn’t ask you, Teddy.  I have thought it all over, and I can’t see any objections.  I should take all the care of it, and I want to do it.”

“But the house is so full, Babe,” Mrs. McAlister said.  “There isn’t any room for one.”

“It could sleep on the lounge in my room.  I wouldn’t let it trouble you any.  It is a fine charity, and this is such a good place for a child to play.  Isabel will take one for a week, if I will, and I said I would.  There is just time, before I go away,” Phebe said with an air of finality which would have ended the subject, had it not been for Allyn’s last shot,—­

“They’d better get its life insured, then, for there’s no telling how long it will be before Babe takes it as a subject for her scalpel.”

“Don’t be foolish, Allyn,” Phebe returned; but Hubert interposed,—­

“Isn’t Archie going to come on at all, this summer, Hope?”

“I’m afraid not.  Summer is his busy time, and he will be out in camp till snow flies.”

“I don’t see the use of having that kind of a husband,” Phebe observed severely.

“You like the kind like me better; don’t you, Babe?”

“No; I should get sick of having you everlastingly around the house, Billy.  I want a man to have hours and stick to them, not keep running in and out.  I sha’n’t marry.  If I did, I would insist on a ten-hour law; then I could be sure of getting some time to myself.”

“Archie lives on a ten-month law,” his wife said regretfully.  “Of course, I can go out to camp to be with him; but it’s not good for Mac.  He picks up all the talk of the miners and retails it at inopportune times, and runs wild generally.  Archie usually comes home for a day, every two or three weeks; but, this year, he is too far out for that, so I thought it was best for me to come East now.”