"No; her father wouldn't allow any such attempt, and it is quite sure that his daughter is still heart-whole. And as I have told you before, if either suit is to prosper, I should rather it should be yours--as in that case she would not be taken far away from me." "That is some consolation, and she is well worth waiting for," said Chester in a tone of resignation. "So her father thinks," said the captain. Just then there was a sound of wheels on the drive. "The Roselands carriage," said Chester, glancing from the window; and both he and the captain rose and hurried out. They found the whole Roselands family there--Calhoun and his wife and children; Dr. Arthur, his Marian, and their little Ronald. Violet and her children, with Lucilla and Grace, had hastened down to receive them, and warm greetings were exchanged all around. Chester took particular pains to get possession of a seat near Lucilla, and had many questions to ask in regard to the manner in which she had spent the long weeks of her absence from home--for long, he averred, they had seemed to him. "Well now, they didn't to me," laughed Lucilla; "on the contrary, I thought them very short; time fairly flew." "And was so filled with interesting occurrences that you hardly thought of your absent friends?" "Oh, yes; I did think of them, occasionally even of you, Chester," she said in sportive tone. "Really, I do wish you could have seen and enjoyed all that we did. Were you moping at home all the time?" "Not all the time; much of it found me very busy; and for a fortnight I was away on a boating excursion with some friends." "I am glad of that, for I am sure you needed some rest. Sometimes I think you are too hard a worker. Don't forget the old saying that 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'" But there the talk was interrupted by another arrival--the carriage from The Oaks, bringing all that family, including Chester's sister Sydney. They were on their way to Ion to welcome Grandma Elsie home, so made but a short call. The Roselands people were urged to stay to tea, but declined, and presently took their leave. But they had scarcely gone, when Violet's brothers Harold and Herbert came, and they stayed to tea. They were bright and genial as usual; Chester, too, was gay and lively; and so altogether they constituted a blithe and merry party. The evening brought the families from Ashlands, Pinegrove, and The Laurels, and the next day those from Fairview, Beechwood, and Riverside. Rosie expressed herself as charmed with her new home, and insisted upon having them all there to tea with her mother and old Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore. The other relatives she had already entertained, she said; and she was planning to have all at once at no very distant day. "Surely we can wait for that, Rosie," said the captain, "and content ourselves with a call upon you and a sight of your pretty home, leaving the greater visit to the time you speak of."