"No dumb creature's life is safe!" said Joe.

"He breaks everything he lays hands on," said Ruth, "and he won't
keep his hands off anything."

"You were all little once, boys!" said Mary.

"We never behaved in this kind of way!" said the brothers, sedate
from their cradles. "Something must be done!"

"You are right," said Father Golden. "Something must be done."

Glancing once more at the portrait of Mother Golden, he turned and
faced his children with grave looks.

"Sit down, sons and daughters!" said the old man. "I have something
to say to you."

The young people obeyed, wondering, but not questioning. Father
Golden was head of the house.

"You all come to me," said Father Golden, "with complaints of little
Benjamin. It is singular that you should come to-day, for I have
been waiting for this day to speak to you about the child myself."

He paused for a moment; then added, weighing his words slowly, as
was his wont when much in earnest, "Ten years ago to-day, that child
was left on our door-step."