"Here he is, aunty!" cried Daisy.

"So this is my new boy? I am glad to see you, my dear, and hope
you'll be happy here," said the lady, drawing him to her, and
stroking back the hair from his forehead with a kind hand and a
motherly look, which made Nat's lonely little heart yearn toward
her.

She was not at all handsome, but she had a merry sort of face that
never seemed to have forgotten certain childish ways and looks,
any more than her voice and manner had; and these things, hard to
describe but very plain to see and feel, made her a genial,
comfortable kind of person, easy to get on with, and generally
"jolly," as boys would say. She saw the little tremble of Nat's lips
as she smoothed his hair, and her keen eyes grew softer, but she
only drew the shabby figure nearer and said, laughing:

"I am Mother Bhaer, that gentleman is Father Bhaer, and these are
the two little Bhaers. Come here, boys, and see Nat."

The three wrestlers obeyed at once; and the stout man, with a
chubby child on each shoulder, came up to welcome the new boy.
Rob and Teddy merely grinned at him, but Mr. Bhaer shook hands,
and pointing to a low chair near the fire, said, in a cordial voice:

"There is a place all ready for thee, my son; sit down and dry thy
wet feet at once."

"Wet? So they are! My dear, off with your shoes this minute, and
I'll have some dry things ready for you in a jiffy," cried Mrs. Bhaer,