nearest their hearts. Naturally Vi's thoughts were full of the husband
from whom she had just parted--for how long?--it might be months or
years.

"Mamma," she said, "the more I am with him and study his character, the
more I honor and trust and love him. It is the one trial of my otherwise
exceptionally happy life, that we must pass so much of our time apart,
and that he has such a child as Lulu to mar his enjoyment of--"

"Oh, dear daughter," interrupted Elsie, "do not allow yourself to feel
otherwise than very kindly toward your husband's child; Lulu has some
very noble traits, and I trust you will try to think of them rather than
of her faults, serious as they may seem to you."

"Yes, mamma, there are some things about her that are very lovable, and
I really have a strong affection for her, even aside from the fact that
she is his child; yet when she behaves in a way that distresses him I
can hardly help wishing that she belonged to some one else.

"You surely must have noticed how badly she behaved for two or three
days. He never spoke to me about it, tried not to let me see that it
interfered with his enjoyment (for he knew that that would spoil mine),
but for all that I knew his heart was often heavy over her misconduct.

"Yet she certainly does love her father. How she clung to him after she
had heard that he must leave us so soon, with a remorseful affection, it
seemed to me."

"Yes, and though she shed but few tears in parting from him, I could see
that she was almost heart-broken. She is a strange child, but if she