"Well, I'm not sure that he oughtn't to be. Now, Lucy's all right. She behaves like a lady--but if you consider Harry an appetizing table companion, I don't." "But, dearest, he's only a baby! And boys are different from girls. You can't expect them to have as good manners." "I can't remember that I ever made a nuisance of myself." "Your father was very strict with you. But surely you don't think it is right to make your children afraid of you?" The genuine distress in her voice brought a laugh from him. "Oh, well, they are your children, darling, and you may do as you please with them." "Bad papa!" said Harry suddenly, chasing the last drop of syrup around his plate with a bit of bread crumb. "Oh, no, precious; good papa! You must promise papa to be a little gentleman or he won't let you breakfast with him any more." It was Virginia's proud boast that Harry's smile would melt even his great-uncle, Cyrus, and she watched him with breathless rapture as he turned now in his high chair and tested the effect of this magic charm on his father. His baby mouth broadened deliciously, showing two rows of small irregular teeth; his blue eyes shone until they seemed full of sparkles; his roguish, irresistible face became an incarnation of infant entreaty. "I want to bekfast wid papa, an' I want more 'lasses," he remarked. "He's a fascinating little rascal, there's no doubt of that," observed Oliver, in response to Virginia's triumphant look. Then, bending over, he kissed her on the cheek, before he picked up his newspapers and went into his study at the back of the parlour. Some hours later, at their early dinner, she reported the result of her visit to the Treadwells. "It is too awful, Oliver. Aunt Belinda has not spoken yet, and she can't move the lower part of her body at all. The doctor says she may live for years, but he doesn't think she will ever be able to walk again. I feel so sorry for her and for poor Susan. Do you know, Susan engaged herself to John Henry last night just before her mother was paralyzed, and they were to be married in December. But now she says she will give him up." "John Henry!" exclaimed Oliver in amazement. "Why, what in the world does she see in John Henry?" "I don't know--one never knows what people see in each other, but she has been in love with him all her life, I believe." "Well, it's rough on her. Is she obliged to break off with him now?" "She says it wouldn't be fair to him not to. Her whole time must be given to nursing her mother. There's something splendid about Susan, Oliver. I never realized it as much as I did to-day. Whatever she does, you may be sure it will be because it is right to do it. She sees everything so clearly, and her wishes never obscure her judgment." "It's a pity. She'd make a great mother, wouldn't she? But life doesn't seem able to get along without a sacrifice of the fittest."