disconsolate tones,--

"Oh, papa! are you home so soon?"

"So soon?" he answered, as well as he could for coughing; "it's
six o'clock now. Is dinner ready? What are you doing out here?"

It took but a moment to explain the matter, and then the doctor
showed that it was not without reason that Polly called him the
best father in the world. He was just back from a long drive out
into the country with a fellow doctor, to pass judgment upon a
critical case; he must visit a man in the hospital before his
evening office hour; he was tired, hungry, and in a hurry, and
there was no immediate prospect of dinner. But the three weary,
heated, crocky faces before him moved him to pity, and he threw
open the outer door, saying briskly,--

"Let's have a little air here, and see what's the matter."

"The fire won't seem to burn," said Alan. "It just smokes and goes
out."

"So I see," said the doctor laughing. "Perhaps it would go better,
my boy, if the dampers were not shut up tight. All it needs is a
little draught,--see?" And in a moment there was a comfortable
crackling sound going on inside the stove.

Before his marriage, the doctor had been in the habit of camping
out every summer, and his old experiences came to his aid in the
present crisis. While the girls flew in to set the table, he