When to this her father promptly replied that she must go back, and he would take her, she as promptly changed her note. "Very well, she would go back; he need not come with her; but she would die." "Oh, no, you will not die. You will soon grow very fond of her." "Then I shall grow very worldly, like her," said Miss Precocity. "What makes you think that?" "Because she is a worldly old woman--and you said so yourself." "I said so! When?" demanded her father, with a guilty feeling of vague recollection. "To Mamma once--when Mamma said something against her husband, you said that, and Mamma said you ought not to say that about her sister--and you said she was only her half-sister, anyhow, and not a bit like her--and now you want to send me back to her as if I were only your half-child." The father smiled sadly enough as he drew the anxious little face close to his own. "Oh! no--You are all mine, and my all. I only want to do what is right." "Mamma wants me to stay with you--so it must be right." The present tense used by the child struck the father to the heart. "What makes you think that?" he asked with a sigh. The little girl was quick to catch at the new hope. "She told me so the day before she died, when I was in the room with her; she said you would be lonely, and I must be a comfort to you." Mr. Leigh gave a gasp that was almost a groan, and the child flung her arms about his neck. "And I sha'n't leave you, my all-Papa, unless you drive me; I promised Mamma I would stay and take care of you, and I will. And you won't make me--will you? For I am your all-daughter--You won't, will you?" "No, d----d if I do!" said the father, catching her to his heart, and trying to smother the oath as it burst from his lips. As soon as she had quieted down, he went to her Aunt's to make the necessary explanation. He found it not the easiest task, for the good lady had her own ideas and had formed her plans, and the change was a blow to her _amour propre_. It was, in fact, the beginning of the breach between Mr. Leigh and his sister-in-law which led eventually to the antagonism between them. "You are going to spoil that child to death!" exclaimed the affronted lady. This Mr. Leigh denied, though in his heart he thought it possible. It was not a pleasant interview, for Mrs. Argand was deeply offended. But Mr. Leigh felt that it was well worth the cost when, on his return home, he was greeted by a cry of joy from the top of the stair where the little girl sat in her dressing gown awaiting him. And when with a cry of joy she came rushing down, Cinderella-like, dropping her slipper in her excitement, and flung herself into his arms, he knew that life had begun for him anew.