“Perhaps it’s because Papa’s coming home soon, and she knows she isn’t going to have us much longer,” Daisy suggested. “She says I may help pack the next missionary box. I love to see what they send to the missionaries, only I wish some of the ladies wouldn’t send quite such shabby things. I don’t see how any missionary could possibly use them.” But at this particular moment the little girls were not thinking of Grandma or of missionaries either, for Dulcie was reading “A Peep Behind the Scenes” aloud, and for the past hour they had all been completely absorbed in the story. “It’s very sad,” remarked Dulcie, pausing at the conclusion of a chapter to wipe her eyes. “I wish something horrid would happen to that stepmother, and Rosalie would hurry and find her Aunt Lucy.” “Stepmothers must be awful,” said Molly, glancing up from the tea-cozy she was crocheting. “Almost every one we’ve read about is cruel.” “They are all cruel,” announced Dulcie, in a tone of conviction. “Let’s look at your book-mark, Maud. Oh, you are getting all the stitches crooked. Give it to me, and let me straighten it out for you.” Maud relinquished her work quite readily, and threw herself back in the soft grass. “It’s the first one I ever made,” she said. “I don’t believe Miss Leslie will mind even if it is just a little bit crooked. It’s a wedding present, anyhow, and people ought not to criticize presents.” “Your tea-cozy is going to be lovely,” said Daisy, regarding Molly’s work admiringly. “I’m afraid my pincushion won’t be half as pretty.” “Oh, yes, it will,” Molly assured her. “Lizzie always said you sewed better than any of us. I’m sure Miss Leslie will love your cushion, and Uncle Stephen, too. Don’t you want one of us to read, Dulcie, while you work on your tidy?” Dulcie hesitated. “I think I’d rather go on reading,” she said. “I can read faster than the rest of you, and it’s so interesting about Rosalie and her stepmother. There really isn’t any hurry about finishing our presents. We don’t even know when the wedding is to be.” “I wish Uncle Stephen had told us more about it,” said Daisy. “It would be so interesting to think of them on their wedding day, but he only said he was sure Miss Leslie would like some wedding presents, and we could give them to her when we saw her. He didn’t even say he was going to marry her himself.” “Of course he is, though,” said Dulcie, “or else he would have told us we were mistaken. Perhaps they are coming east on their wedding trip. Won’t it be nice to see them again, and to be able to call Miss Leslie ‘Aunt Florence’? I don’t believe Grandma will ask them here for a visit, but perhaps they’ll have us come and spend the day at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. I guess Grandma would let us if Uncle Stephen came for us. It’s only an hour on the train.”