"Nan is becoming a practical maid, and I presume I put upon the
child dreadfully, she is good-natured, like you, Robert."

"Aye, I know our Nan gets all her good qualities from me,
Jessie," said her husband. "If she favored you she would, of
course, be a very hateful child."

He kissed his wife tenderly. As Nan said, he always "cleaned up"
at the mills and "came home kissable."

"I ought to be just next door to an angel, if I absorbed the
virtues of both my parents," declared Nan briskly, beginning to
braid the wonderful hair which she had already brushed. "I often
think of that."

Her father poked her tentatively under the shoulder blades with a
blunt forefinger, making her squirm.

"I don't feel the wings sprouting yet, Nancy," he said, in his
dry way.

"I hope not, yet!" exclaimed the girl. "I'd have to have a new
winter coat if you did, and I know we can't afford that just
now."

"You never said a truer word, Nan," replied Mr. Sherwood, his
voice dropping to a less cheerful level, as he went away to
change his coat and light the hanging lamp in the dining room
where the supper table was already set.