“Oh, her father can make her talk,” laughed Eric; “if he tells her to, she’ll mind him. Won’t you, baby dear?”
“Yes, I will. Babies ought to do what their papas tell them to.”
The words seemed to come from the little lips, and the children turned to see if Max was near. He was, and smiled in response to their questioning glances.
“Doesn’t she do pretty well for so young a talker?” he asked.
“Yes, sir, with her father to help her,” laughed Eric. “But I’m afraid she won’t be able to do so well when you are away on shipboard. Unless Cousin Ronald is somewhere near,” he added, as an after thought.
“Yes, I like Cousin Ronald,” the baby voice seemed to say.
“And you love your aunties, don’t you?” asked Elsie Raymond, leaning over her.
“Yes, I love you and all the other ones.”
“And don’t you love your cousin doctor, who takes care of you and mamma when you need him?” asked Dr. Harold, joining the group.
“Yes, indeed! Will you be my uncle some day?”
“I hope so,” laughed Harold. “You will make a nice little niece, I think.”
“And I think he will be a nice uncle,” laughed Grace, who was standing by his side.
Captain Raymond, too, was near, the baby being as attractive to him as to any one else—except, perhaps, the parents.
“I should like to be able to prove that very soon,” said Harold with a significant glance at the captain.
At that Grace blushed and gave her father a loving, entreating look that seemed to say:
“Don’t be angry with us, father dear. I love you, and we are not rebellious.”
“‘Patient waiting no loss,’” he said with kindly look and smile. “I love my daughter too well to be in a hurry to give her away.”
“What will you do when your papa goes away to his ship, baby?” asked Eric.
“Stay at home with mamma,” was the reply, at which the children all laughed.
But now the carriages were at the door, and they must hasten to prepare for their homeward drive.
It was but a short one from Beechwood to Woodburn, and to that hospitable home went not only the immediate family, but the Sunnyside folk also, Grandma Elsie and her sons, Harold and Herbert.
An inviting tea was ready for them on their arrival, and after it they had a delightful social evening together, music and conversation making the time pass very swiftly.