and pleasure.

"Do you really think so, uncle? I'm so glad! Papa taught me, and I
read for hours to him, but I thought perhaps, he liked it because he
was fond of me."

"So am I; but you really do read unusually well, and I'm very glad
of it, for it is a rare accomplishment, and one I value highly. Come
here in this cosy, low chair; the light is better, and I can pull these
curls if you go too fast. I see you are going to be a great comfort as
well as a great credit to your old uncle, Rosy." And Dr. Alec drew
her close beside him with such a fatherly look and tone that she
felt it would be very easy to love and obey him, since he knew how
to mix praise and blame so pleasantly together.

Another chapter was just finished, when the sound of a carriage
warned them that Aunt Jane was about to depart. Before they
could go to meet her, however, she appeared in the doorway
looking like an unusually tall mummy in her waterproof, with her
glasses shining like cat's eyes from the depths of the hood.

"Just as I thought! petting that child to death and letting her sit up
late reading trash. I do hope you feel the weight of the
responsibility you have taken upon yourself, Alec," she said, with a
certain grim sort of satisfaction at seeing things go wrong.

"I think I have a very realising sense of it, sister Jane," answered
Dr. Alec, with a comical shrug of the shoulders and a glance at
Rose's bright face.