"I thought you'd say, 'What strange child is this?'"

Mr. Parlin, looking at the black streaks on Dotty's woeful face, found it
very difficult to keep from laughing. "A strange child' she appeared to
be, certainly.

"But I'd got my visit all finished up, ever and ever so long ago."

"So you really chose to come back to us, my dear?"

"O, papa, you don't know! Did you think, did you s'pose--"

Here Dotty broke down completely, and, seizing her father's shirt-bosom
in both her grimy hands, she buried her face in it, and sprinkled it with
tears of ink.

There was great surprise throughout the house when Dotty's arrival
became known.

"We didn't know how to live without you any longer," said Prudy; "and
tomorrow Thanksgiving Day."

"But I never should have come up," said Dotty, "if I hadn't heard mamma
talk about loving me just the same; I never _could_ have come up."

"Excuse me for smiling," said Prudy; "but you look as if you had fallen
into the inkstand. It is _so_ funny!"

Dotty was not at all amused herself; but after she was dressed in clean
clothes, she felt very happy, and enjoyed her supper remarkably well. The