"I shall tell you at that time whether you have earned them, but I may
sometimes only set the amount down to your credit and pay you the money
in a lump at the end of the week."

"Yes, sir; we'll like that way just as well," they returned in chorus.

Violet had come in and taken possession of an easy chair on the farther
side of the glowing grate.

Looking smilingly at the little group opposite, "I have a thought," she
said lightly; "who can guess it?"

"It's something nice about papa; how handsome he is, and how good and
kind," ventured Lulu.

"A very close guess, Lu," laughed Violet; "for my thought was that the
Woodburn children have as good and kind a father as could be found in
all the length and breadth of the land."

"We know it, Mamma Vi; we all think so," cried the children.

But the captain shook his head, saying, "Ah, my dear, flattery is not
good for me. If you continue to dose me with it, who knows but I shall
become as conceited and vain as a peacock?"

"Not a bit of danger of that!" she returned gaily. "But I do not
consider the truth flattery."

"Suppose we change the subject," he said with a good-humored smile. "We