“Of course Sarah Hartly is the one who ought to take Violet—oh, Rose, so it is, and if she wasn’t so supremely selfish she would. I stopped off at Fredonia, on my way from Buffalo here, and put it up to her. There she is, her grandmother’s sister, and Kate her only niece, a widow without chick or child, and a house she doesn’t begin to use, and she said her health wasn’t good enough, and her nerves were too weak to take a bouncing girl—those were her very words, ‘bouncing girl,’ into her family. I should think her nerves would be weak,” he sniffed, “with that miserable whiffet dog she keeps, barking and snapping at every one. Snapped at me he did, and I told Sarah plainly that if a dog ever bit me some one would pay well for it. She shut him up then, and he was howling and scratching when I came away. “Now, I can’t take her. I never was married and I don’t know any more what a girl needs than the man in the moon. Besides, I live at a club and that would be no place for a young girl. But as I was saying about—what did you say her name was? Oh, yes, Rose, she looks strong and healthy, and I’d like to have her stay where she could have pure air, and new milk and fresh eggs. There is no place like the country to live, at least when one is young. “I’m quite pleased with your little village; it’s situated nicely, and your town-folk tell me you have no malaria. I have made inquiry about the school and am told it is unusually good for a place of this size. And, Mrs. Blossom, I had just as soon tell you that I have made inquiries about your family, with the most flattering answers. You have all shown the kindest interest in the poor child, and from what I have heard, and still more from what I have seen, I feel that if she can remain in your care it will be the best arrangement I could make for her. Would that suit you?” turning to Rose. “Indeed it would,” her face bright with pleasure that what she had wished seemed so near fulfilment. “Nothing could suit me better.” “Wait a moment,” waving his hand to Mrs. Blossom not to speak; “I want to make myself fully understood. If Kate’s baby remains here you will, of course, be paid for her board, but I should want you to regard her as more than a mere boarder—in short, to receive her as one of your family, and give her the same care and interest, and as long as the arrangement continues that this shall be her home, and all that implies.”