you have the brutes in your room?"     

       "Why, to keep the boogaboos from getting me, of course. Aren't you afraid of the boogaboos getting you? But you're so big, you wouldn't mind. You'd just hit them. And they're not brutes—are you, darlings? You're angels, and you nearly burst yourselves with joy because auntie had come back from England, didn't you? Father, did they miss me when I was gone? Did they pine away?"     

       "They got like skeletons. We all did."     

       "You?"     

       "I should say so."     

       "Then, why did you send me away to England?"     

       "I wanted you to see the country. Did you like it?"     

       "I hated being away from you."     

       "But you liked the country?"     

       "I loved it."     

       McEachern drew a breath of relief. The only possible obstacle to the great change did not exist.     

       "How would you like to go back to England, Molly?"     

       "To England! When I've just come home?"     

       "If I went, too?"     

       Molly twisted around so that she could see his face better.     

       "There's something the matter with you, father. You're trying to say something, and I want to know what it is. Tell me quick, or I'll make Rastus bite you!"     

       "It won't take long, dear. I've been lucky in some investments while you were away, and I'm going to leave the force, and take you over to England, and find a prince for you to marry—if you think you would like it."     

       "Father! It'll be perfectly splendid!"     

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