"Dress old Rollo’s head with flowers if you will, little Guy, but not mine; they would only wither there." "Well, then, mamma," said the little one, "Rollo has enough; see how he shakes them out of his ears! I will now make a wreath for sister Kate to wear when she comes home. Has she gone to find papa, and will she bring him back with her? How long will it be before we are together and happy again? Tell me mamma." The tears rose in the lady’s eyes; she threw one arm around her child, and drawing him toward her, pressed kisses fast and thick on lip and cheek and brow. "Papa cannot come again, my child; he has gone to another world, and would not wish to come back to one so full of care and trouble; and sister Kate is far away; perhaps she has gone to papa, and some day we will go to meet them, but they cannot come to us again. You and I must love each other dearly now, Guy, for I have no one left but you." "Dear mamma, don’t cry," said the boy stoutly, though his own lip was curling as he spoke, and dropping all his treasures, he flung both arms around her neck. The old servant, as though he wished the privacy of the mother and child to be undisturbed, had gone forward a few paces; but now he returned with a face expressive of both surprise and anxiety; and interrupted them: "My lady, the boat! It has stopped at the water-gate, and several persons are landing from it." "What boat?" said the lady hurriedly, grasping her child tighter as she spoke, and leading the horse forward in the direction indicated. "The one we noticed awhile ago from the hill coming up from London. Shall I go forward and ask their errand?" "Yes, Thomas, go quickly, but be calm, and do not irritate them; we will follow. There is no need of escaping if they are friends," she added to herself when the old servant was gone, "and if they are foes, there is no time." Her look grew even more alarmed when she turned a corner and came in full sight of the advancing party, for her eyes fell first on the dress of a monk whose features were only too well known to her. But she had hardly time to consider what the danger was, before a figure detached itself from the group and came bounding toward her. "Mamma and Guy!" shouted a glad girlish voice, and in another moment the pale lady’s arms were loosened from her son to clasp them around her daughter, and draw her tightly to her breast. Neither spoke for a moment--their joy and thankfulness were too great for words. Kate first broke the silence: "O mamma! is it all true?" she cried, half laughing, half sobbing. "Am I really at home again? Oh! I am so glad! so glad! I thought the time would never come. And little Guy--what a big boy he has grown! And Rollo, and Thomas! O mamma! I do believe I am at home!"