CHAPTER III.

THE PLAYMATES.


Mr. Home stayed two days. During his visit he could not be prevailed
on to go out: he sat all day long by the fireside, sometimes silent,
sometimes receiving and answering Mrs. Bretton's chat, which was just
of the proper sort for a man in his morbid mood--not over-sympathetic,
yet not too uncongenial, sensible; and even with a touch of the
motherly--she was sufficiently his senior to be permitted this touch.

As to Paulina, the child was at once happy and mute, busy and
watchful. Her father frequently lifted her to his knee; she would sit
there till she felt or fancied he grew restless; then it was--"Papa,
put me down; I shall tire you with my weight."

And the mighty burden slid to the rug, and establishing itself on
carpet or stool just at "papa's" feet, the white work-box and the
scarlet-speckled handkerchief came into play. This handkerchief, it
seems, was intended as a keepsake for "papa," and must be finished
before his departure; consequently the demand on the sempstress's
industry (she accomplished about a score of stitches in half-an-hour)
was stringent.

The evening, by restoring Graham to the maternal roof (his days were
passed at school), brought us an accession of animation--a quality not
diminished by the nature of the scenes pretty sure to be enacted