under the old roof, you will feel at home. Come, I'm going to take you
out to supper to-night, and, Burt, do you be as gallant to your mother."

The young fellow made them all laugh by imitating his father's old-style
courtesy; and a happy circle of faces gathered around the board in the
cheerful supper-room, to which a profuse decoration of evergreens gave a
delightfully aromatic odor. Mr. Clifford's "grace" was not a formal
mumble, but a grateful acknowledgment of the source from which, as he
truly believed, had flowed all the good that had blessed their life; and
then followed the genial, unrestrained table-talk of a household that, as
yet, possessed no closeted skeleton. The orphan sat among them, and her
mourning weeds spoke of a great and recent sorrow, which might have been
desolation, but already her kindling eyes and flushed cheeks proved that
this strong, bright current of family life would have the power to carry
her forward to a new, spring-like experience. To her foreign-bred eyes
there was an abundance of novelty in this American home, but it was like
the strangeness of heaven to the poor girl, who for months had been so
sad and almost despairing. With the strong reaction natural to youth
after long depression, her heart responded to the glad life about her,
and again she repeated the words to herself, "I'm sure--oh, I am sure I
shall be happy here."




CHAPTER III

A COUNTRY FIRESIDE