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 remained
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 befallen 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.
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