"Father has got something to tell you, precious," he said. Maria hitched away a little from him, and made no reply. "Ida, Miss Slome, tells me that she thinks you know, and so I made up my mind I had better tell you, and not wait any longer, although I shall not take any decisive step before--before November. What would you say if father should bring home a new mother for his little girl, dear?" "I should say I would rather have Aunt Maria," replied Maria, decisively. She choked back a sob. "I've got nothing to say against Aunt Maria," said Harry. "She's been very kind to come here, and she's done all she could, but--well, I think in some ways, some one else--Father thinks you will be much happier with another mother, dear." "No, I sha'n't." Harry hesitated. The child's voice sounded so like her dead mother's that he felt a sudden guilt, and almost terror. "But if father were happier--you want father to be happy, don't you, dear?" he asked, after a little. Then Maria began to sob in good earnest. She threw her arms around her father's neck. "Yes, father, I do want you to be happy," she whispered, brokenly. "If father's little girl were large enough to keep his house for him, and were through school, father would never think of taking such a step," said Harry Edgham, and he honestly believed what he said. For the moment his old love of life seemed to clutch him fast, and Ida Slome's radiant visage seemed to pale. "Oh, father," pleaded Maria. "Aunt Maria would marry you, and I would a great deal rather have her." "Nonsense," said Harry Edgham, laughing, with a glance towards the door. "Yes, she would, father; that was the reason she got her pompadour." Harry laughed again, but softly, for he was afraid of Aunt Maria overhearing. "Nonsense, dear," he said again. Then he kissed Maria in a final sort of way. "It will be all for the best," he said, "and we shall all be happier. Father doesn't think any the less of you, and never will, and he is never going to forget your own dear mother; but it is all for the best, the way he has decided. Now, good-night, darling, try to go to sleep, and don't worry about anything." It was not long before Maria did fall asleep. Her thoughts were in such a whirl that it was almost like intoxication. She could not seem to fix her mind on anything long enough to hold herself awake. It was not merely the fact of her father's going to marry again, it was everything which that involved. She felt as if she were looking into a kaleidoscope shaken by fate into endless changes. The changes seemed fairly to tire her eyes into sleep. The very next afternoon Aunt Maria went home. Harry announced his matrimonial intentions to her before he went to New York, and she said immediately that she would take the afternoon train.