"We have devoured our two next-door neighbours. There's for you!
You know Pratt the dentist had a swell hall-door and staircase, which
we absorb, so we shall not eat in the back drawing-room, nor come up
the flight which used to be so severe on you, Cherry."

"I can only remember the arms that helped me up. I have never left
off dreaming of the dear old step springing up the stair after the
day's work, and the whistle to Theodore."

"Ah, those were the jolly old days!" returned Lance, con amore.

"Unbroken," added Clement, in the same tone.

"Better than Vale Leston?" asked Gertrude.

"The five years there were, as Felix called those last hours of
delight, halcyon days," said Geraldine; "but the real home was in the
rough and the smooth, the contrivances, the achievements, the
exultation at each step on the ladder, the flashes of Edgar, the
crowded holiday times-—all happier than we knew! I hope your
children will care as much."

"Vale Leston is their present paradise," said Gertrude. "You should
see Master Felix's face at the least hope of a visit, and even little
Fulbert talks about boat and fish."

"What have you done with the Lambs?" demanded Clement.

"They have outgrown the old place in every direction, and have got a