He said the little Halls were coming, but Mrs.
Taylor begun saying she disliked their company for the children--granny let them get about so much, and they said bad words.

The father again interfered.

Perhaps Mr.Wilmot, who acted as chaplain at the hospital, had been talking to him, for he declared at once that they should come; and Richard suggested that he might see them home when he came from church; then, turning to the boy and girl, told them they would meet their sister Lucy, and asked them if they would not like that.
On the whole, the beginning was not inauspicious, though there might be a doubt whether old Mrs.Hall would keep all her promises.

Ethel was so much diverted and pleased as to be convinced she would; Richard was a little doubtful as to her power over the wild girls.

There could not be any doubt that John Taylor was in earnest, and had been worked upon just at the right moment; but there was danger that the impression would not last.