The Russian's few belongings were packed, and they all saw him off at the station.
Then Mother turned to the old gentleman and said:—
"I don't know how to thank you for EVERYTHING. It has been a real pleasure to me to see you. But we live very quietly. I am so sorry that I can't ask you to come and see us again."
The children thought this very hard. When they HAD made a friend—and
such a friend—they would dearly have liked him to come and see them again. What the old gentleman thought they couldn't tell. He only said:—
"I consider myself very fortunate, Madam, to have been received once at your house."
"Ah," said Mother, "I know I must seem surly and ungrateful—but—"
"You could never seem anything but a most charming and gracious lady," said the old gentleman, with another of his bo
