The child--also for the hundredth time. "I have an old mother, and a sister, and six nephews and nieces over there--they need me now, more than you do, cherie!" Keineth knew that she was very unhappy and refrained from asking her more questions. Daddy had read to her of the suffering in Europe as a result of the great war, but it seemed hard to picture prim Tante in the midst of it--perhaps working in the fields and factories, as Daddy said some of the women and children were doing. Tante had read them parts of a letter telling of the wounding of her sister'sLouis Vuitton Outlet husband at the battle front and of his death in an English 'hospital, but that had seemed so very far away that Keineth had not thought much about it. Now it seemed nearer as she pictured the six little nephews and nieces, the poor old grandmother--perhaps all hungry and homeless! Keineth suddenly thought how good it was of Tante to leave their comfortable home and their jolly dinners and Dora's steaming pancakes to go back to Belgium to help! Then--as if the whole day was not queer and different enough, Keineth suddenly heard her father's quick step on the stairway. He had said he would not be home until that night! She sprang to the door in time to rush into his arms as he came down the hallway. He kissed her, on her nose and eyes, as was his way, but when he lifted his face Keineth saw that it was very serious, which was not at all like Daddy. "Run out in the park for a little while, dear. I must talk to Madame Henri!" The sun was shining very brightly on the pavements of the streets. The little leaves on the trees Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore were quivering with new life and the birds were chirping loudly and busily in the branches, fussing over their housekeeping. But Keineth's heart was too heavy to respond! She walked around and around the square, staring miserably at the people who passed her and always keeping in sight of the long windows where the pink geraniums shone in the spring sunlight. Suddenly her heart dropped to her very toes and she had a great deal of trouble keeping the tears back from her eyes, for a very bright yellow motor car had stopped at their door, and Keineth knew that it was Aunt Josephine! Chapter 2 Keineth Decides Keineth waited what seemed to her hours; then retraced her steps to the house and walked very quietly into the hall. Daddy heard the door close behind her and called to her from the study. He was sitting at his desk, tapping the pad before him with the point of a pencil Aunt Josephine sat on the old horse-hair sofa, looking very excited, and Tante, a pile of books still clasped in her arm and a smudge of dust across her straight features, stood near the window. "I think it'sLouis Vuitton Monogram Vernis high time you used a little sense in the way you bring up that child, John. You'll ruin her!" Keineth's father smiled across at Keineth as much as to say: "Never mind, dear," but he listened gravely as his sister went on: "I think it's the best thing that could happen--Madame Henri going away and you called on this trip--" "Wait a moment, Josephine; Keineth does not know yet--" "Daddy!" cried the child, running to him. "Just a moment, dear," he whispered, as he drew her between his knees and laid his cheek against her hair. Aunt Josephine looked very much in earnest. Keineth could not remember a time when she had seemed more concerned over hers and Daddy's welfare! "Now I can takeLouis Vuitton Monogram Idylle Keineth with me until July. Then when I go on that yachting cruise she can go to some camp in the mountains--there are ever so many good ones. And next fall I can put her into a school. She's too old to go on living as you are living." Now the world had turned upside down! Keineth pressed suddenly close to her father. He tightened the clasp of her arm. "Wait a moment, sister. We have two or three days to talk this over. I must get Madame Henri safely started and then Keineth and I will make our plans." As he said this he squeezed the child's hand. "You're awfully good to offer to take my little girl and I know you'd try your best to make her happy." He stepped toward the door. Aunt Josephine rose, too. "Well, you'd better follow my advice," she said crisply. She almost always concluded their interviews in this manner when they had to do with Daddy's household. This time she stopped on her way to the door to place her hands on Keineth's shoulders and let her eyes sweep Keineth's little face. "I'd make an up-to-date child of her, John. She's got her mother's eyes but the Randolph features. With a little grooming she'd make a beauty. And the first thing I'd do Louis Vuitton Mahina Leather would be to put a decent frock on her!" Keineth knew that Aunt Josephine meant to be kind but, hurt at her criticism, she drew away from her aunt's clasp. As her aunt and father went out she looked down wonderingly at the simple blue serge she wore. Tante had always had her dresses made at a little shop on lower Fifth Avenue and Keineth had always thought them very nice. Madame Henri, muttering to herself, went out of the room. Keineth stood very still until her father came back. He shut the door and went to his desk. She ran to him and hid her face on his shoulder. "Daddy--are you--going away?" "Yes, child--I must." "For all summer? For all winter?" "Yes, dear. I think it may be a year." "Daddy--" began Keineth, then stopped short to hide her face. Father must not see her cry! "I'll make a little picture for you, dear. This country of ours is like a great big house. It's like all the homes all over the United States put into one. And it must be tended just as we'd tend our own little home--it must be kept in repair. It must be kept clean and have pretty spots, just like Madame Henri's geraniums! And it must be guarded, too, from those who would break in and steal what belongs Louis Vuitton Monogram Wallets in the home--or tear it down and make a ruin of it! And it must know its neighbors and work with them to keep everything peaceful and tidy about the whole street of nations! Don't you remember how I had to argue with Signora Ferocci to make her clean up her back alley?" They both laughed together over the recollection of their efforts to persuade their next-door neighbor of the joys of cleanliness! "Every person, big and small, should do his part toward the home-keeping of this big land of ours. And I have been asked to do a service. Soldiers can't do it all, my dear--only a very small part of it! There are a great many others--men like myself--who are going out over the world to work for the Stars and Stripes. And when I have been asked to go on a mission for our country that is very important, even though it takes me very far and keeps me away a very long time, I am sure my loyal little American girl will be the first to bid me go!" Keineth's eyes were quite dry now and were very bright. She sat up very straight. She had entirely forgotten herself. "Will you wear a uniform, Daddy?" "Oh, dear me, no--my work is not of that sort, In fact, I must go about in the quietest manner possible. I cannot even tell my little girl where I am going." "You mean it's a secret?" the child cried. "Yes, until I return. I must ask you to tell no one that I have gone for the government. We may fail--the newspapers must not know yet. Everyone must think I am simply travelling." Keineth was silent and perplexed. It did not occur to her to ask her father why she could not go Louis Vuitton Monogram Purses with him. He had often gone away before and she had always stayed in the old house with Tante. But it had never been for a whole year!
