"Dear Grandpapa Hall," said Bessie, "please don't let your feelings be hurt, 'cause we only forgot for one moment. You know it's so long since we saw you."
"And did you forget me while you were away?" asked Mr. Hall.
"Oh, no," said Bessie, "we thinked about you very often, and talked about you too."
"Well, let us sit down and talk a little," said Mr. Hall, as he seated himself on a bench, and made Maggie and Bessie take their places, one on each side of him. "And so you came back from Quam Beach yesterday?" he said.
"Yes, sir," said Bessie, – "yesterday, in the afternoon. How did you know it?"
"Oh, I saw the carriages drive up, and papa and mamma and a whole regiment of little folks pouring out of them. I came out this morning, expecting to find you in the park, but you were nowhere to be seen."
"No," said Bessie, "mamma was so busy nurse and Jane had to help her, so we could not take our walk."
"Ah, to be sure, I might have thought of that, and called for you myself."
"But we helped mamma too, and she said we were of great use to her, so we could not have gone out," said Maggie.
"That was right," said Mr. Hall. "Always be of use to dear mamma when you can."
"We can't do much," said Bessie; "we are too little."
"I do not know about that," answered Mr. Hall. "These little hands and feet can help mamma a good deal, if they are only willing. If you can do nothing else, you can be quiet and patient when she is busy. If you do not make trouble, you save trouble."
"And we can 'muse baby," said Bessie.
"So you can. Halloa, little man! How do you do?" This was said to Franky, who had just come up with Jane.
Franky remembered Mr. Hall quite well, and he also remembered how the old gentleman used to give him sugar-plums out of his pocket.
"Welly well," he answered. "Me want sudar-plum."
"Oh, you naughty boy!" said Maggie.
"Dear, dear," said Mr. Hall. "I quite forgot the sugar-plums this afternoon. When I saw my little friends going up the street, I thought of nothing but the pleasure of joining them, and hurried out as quickly as I could."
"Dive Franky sudar-plums," said the child again.
"Oh, Franky!" said Bessie, "don't be so yude. You make us very mortified. Please to 'scuse him, Mr. Hall; he don't know any better, 'cause he's only three years old."
Mr. Hall laughed and offered Franky his stick to ride on, but the little boy would not take it; and when he found he could not have the sugar-plums, walked away with an offended air, which amused the old gentleman very much, though it distressed his sisters, who thought him very impolite.
"And now tell me about Quam Beach," said Mr. Hall. "You liked it very much, did you?"
"Yes, sir," said Bessie, "the sea is there."
"And you were fond of the sea?"
"Oh, yes, sir! it is beautiful, and it has waves, and they come up on the beach and bring the sea-weed and shells, and make such a pleasant sound. And we could see so far, far away out over the water, and we saw the ships and steamers too. And there are yocks that we could sit on and play on, and we liked it so much. I wish there was a sea here, Grandpapa Hall. Did you ever go to the sea-shore?"
"Yes, often, and I have been to Quam Beach, and thought it quite as pleasant as you seem to have found it."
"We used to have clam-bakes," said Maggie.
"And go out in the boat," said Bessie.
"And in the wagon for straw rides, and to swing in the barn," said Maggie.
"And over to the hotel to see grandmamma, and Colonel and Mrs. Yush," said Bessie.
"Who are Colonel and Mrs. Rush?" asked Mr. Hall.
"Old friends of papa and mamma, and new friends of me and Maggie," answered Bessie; "and we love them – oh, so much!"
"Colonel Rush is an English soldier," said Maggie, "and he was shot in a battle, so his foot had to be cut off, and he has been very sick, but he's better now."
"And they came to the city with us yesterday," said Bessie, "and went to the hotel; and Mrs. Yush is going to have a class on Sunday, and we are to go to it."
"Are you going to leave your Sunday-school?" asked Mr. Hall.
"I never went to Sunday-school," said Bessie. "Maggie did, but mamma thought I was too little; but she said I might go to Mrs. Yush, 'cause it was not too far. Mrs. Yush can't go to Sunday-school, 'cause she must yide to church with the colonel, and she cannot come back for him in time. Maggie's teacher is going away, and she is to go to Mrs. Yush too, and Lily Norris and Gracie Howard."
"We are all to go to her on Sunday mornings," said Maggie; "and when she and the colonel go to church, they are to take Bessie, if it is too cold for her to walk; so now she can go to church 'most every Sunday. Last winter she went very seldom because mamma thought the walk too long for her, and was afraid she would take cold. Don't you think it is a very nice 'rangement, Grandpapa Hall?"
"Very," said Mr. Hall, smiling at Maggie's long word, – "a very nice arrangement; and I think Mrs. Rush must be a very kind, good lady."
"She is," answered Maggie, "she's lovely."
"Grandpapa Duncan says she is as good as she is pretty, and as pretty as she is good," said Bessie.
"And the colonel is very good too," said Maggie, "and they are both very fond of us."
"That shows them to be sensible people," said Mr. Hall. "I think I must make the acquaintance of this famous Colonel and Mrs. Rush. Will you introduce me to them?"
"Oh, yes, we will," answered Bessie, "and perhaps you'll see the colonel in the park some day. He says he shall come and walk here when he feels well enough. He's going to live over there in the hotel;" and Bessie pointed to the great white building that fronted the park.
"And how is Grandpapa Duncan?" asked Mr. Hall.
"Very well, and Uncle John and Aunt Helen are well too, and Nellie is better, and has ever so many new teeth. Quam Beach did her a great deal of good. Papa and mamma are going to Riverside the day after to-morrow, and Maggie and I are going with them."
"I think I know some one beside Nellie to whom Quam Beach has done good," said Mr. Hall. "There is some color in these little cheeks which were so pale when you went away, and you are stronger and more able to run about; while as for Maggie, she has become quite a roly-poly."
"Mr. Hall," said Bessie, "do you know what we are going to bring from Riverside?"
"No, how should I, when no one has told me?"
"Our little dog that Donald, the gardener, gave us," said Bessie. "His name is Flossy, and he's old enough to leave his mother now; so we are to have him at home."
"Oh, I remember you told me about him in the spring. So his name is Flossy; is it?"
"Yes, sir, and he's Maggie's and mine. Do you think he will be lonely without his puppy brothers?"
"Not with two such nice little playmates as you and Maggie," said Mr. Hall. "You must bring him out every day and let him have a run in the park."
"Yes, sir, and papa is going to buy him a collar with his name on it and where he lives, so people will know he is ours if he yuns away."
"Very good," said Mr. Hall, "and now suppose we walk around a little, or nurse will think I am keeping you quiet too long."
II.
MAGGIE'S PLAN
MAGGIE thought of her "plan" again as soon as she reached home, and she and Bessie scampered away to their mamma's room to see if she were ready to attend to them. She was dressing for dinner, and so they knew they might go in and talk to her, for she said this was "Maggie's and Bessie's hour," and as she dressed, used to tell them stories, or teach