CHAPTER LXII 



HOME-COMING 



EVEN Polly was satisfied with our young 

 people before we entered New York Bay. If 

 anything in their " left pulmonaries " had re- 

 mained unsoftened during the voyage out and 

 the comradery of the Netherlands, it was melted 

 into non-resistance by the homeward trip. I 

 could not long hold out against the evidence of 

 happiness that surrounded me, and I gave a half- 

 grudging consent that Jarvis and Jane might play 

 together for the next three or four years, if they 

 would not ask to play " for keeps " until those 

 years had passed. They readily gave the promise, 

 but every one knows how such promises are kept. 

 The children wore me out in time, as all children 

 do in all kinds of ways, and got their own ways 

 in less than half the contract period. I cannot 

 put my finger on any punishment that has be- 

 fallen them for this lack of filial consideration, 

 and I am fifteen-sixteenths reconciled. 



I was downright glad that Jack " made good " 

 with Jessie Gordon. She was the sort of girl 

 to get out the best that was in him, and I was 

 glad to have her begin early. Try as I might, I 



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