The brothers and sisters uttered an exclamation, half surprised,
half acquiescent.

"It doesn't seem so long!" said Adam.

"It seems longer!" said Mary.

"I keep forgetting he came that way!" murmured Joe.

"I felt doubtful about taking him in," Father Golden went on.
"But your mother wished it; you all wished it. We decided to keep
him for a spell, and give him a good start in life, and we have kept
him till now."

"Of course we have kept him!" said Ruth.

"Naturally!" said Lemuel.

Adam and Mary said nothing, but looked earnestly at their father.

"Little Benjamin is now ten years old, more or less," said Father
Golden. "You are men and women grown; even Joseph is seventeen. Your
mother has entered into the rest that is reserved for the people of
God, and I am looking forward in the hope that, not through any
merit of mine, but the merciful grace of God, I may soon be called
to join her. Adam and Lemuel, you are settled in the business, and
looking forward to making homes of your own with worthy young women.
Joseph is going to college, which is a new thing in our family, but
one I approve, seeing his faculty appears to lie that way. Ruth will
make a first-rate dressmaker, I am told by those who know. Mary--"