I answered, ‘and your mother’s health required her to reside in the south.’

‘And why didn’t mamma speak to me about him?’ persevered the child. ‘She often talked of uncle, and I learnt to love him long ago. How am I to love papa? I don’t know him.’

‘Oh, all children love their parents,’ I said. ‘Your mother, perhaps, thought you would want to be with him if she mentioned him often to you. Let us make haste. An early ride on such a beautiful morning is much preferable to an hour’s more sleep.’

‘Is SHE to go with us,’ he demanded, ‘the little girl I saw yesterday?’

‘Not now,’ replied I.