But looking up eagerly from her book, “Papa,” she asked, “have you, oh! have you, bought it?”

“Bought what?” he asked smilingly, as he sat down and drew her to his side.

“O papa! you know!  Woodburn, I mean.”

“I think I have secured it,” he said, “and that it will make a very delightful home for us all.”

“Oh, I am so glad!” she cried, throwing her arms round his neck, and giving him a vigorous hug.  “When can we move in, papa?”

“In about two weeks, probably:  can you stand having to wait for that length of time?”

“I s’pose I’ll have to,” she said, laughing a little ruefully.  “It’ll help very much that I’ll have you here, and see you every day.  Are you going to keep me shut up in this room all the time?”

“No:  did I not tell you, you were no longer a prisoner?”

“Oh, yes, sir! but I—­I don’t care very much to—­to be with Rosie and the rest.”

“I prefer that you should not be, except when I am present,” he returned gravely.  “I want to keep you with me as much as possible; and would rather have you alone, or with Evelyn, Max, and Gracie only, when I am not with you.”

“I like that best, too, papa,” she replied humbly; “for I can’t trust myself not to get into a passion with Rosie and her dog, and I suppose you can’t trust me either.”

“Not yet, daughter,” he said gently; “but I hope the time will come when I can.  Now we will attend to the lessons.”

When the recitations were finished, “Papa,” she said, with an affectionate, admiring look up into his face, “I think you are a very nice teacher:  you make every thing so clear and plain, and so interesting.  I’m so glad you’re the gentleman who is to have charge of me,” she added with a happy laugh.

“So am I,” he said, caressing her.  “I am very glad, very thankful, to be able to take charge of all my own children; and whatever I may lack in experience and ability as a teacher, I hope to make up in the deep interest I shall always feel in the welfare and progress of my pupils.”

She then told him of Evelyn’s wish, concluding With, “Won’t you, dear papa?  I’d like it so much, and Eva is such a good girl you wouldn’t have a bit of trouble managing her.  She’s just as different from me as possible.”

“Quite a recommendation; and if I were as sure of proving a competent teacher, I should not hesitate to grant your request.  But it is a new business to me, and perhaps it would not be wise for me to undertake the tuition of more than my own three at present.  However,” he added, seeing her look of disappointment, “I will take the matter into consideration.”

“Oh, thank you, sir!  Papa, I’ve just thought of two things I want to talk to you about.”

“Very well; let me hear them.”

“The first is about my being so naughty at Viamede,” she went on, hanging her head, and blushing deeply; “in such a passion at Signor Foresti, and so obstinate and disobedient to grandpa Dinsmore.”