She considered it a great blessing that the child should have found such a friend, and she heartily rejoiced in her good fortune; and was sure that her husband would fully agree with her.

So there was nothing farther for Mrs.Birkenfeld to do, but to embrace Mrs.Ehrenreich most cordially, and then to hasten home to tell the children the happy news.

She knew how they would take it.
There they were all under the apple-tree, all looking towards their mother and impatient for what she might have to tell them; hoping that it might be some plan for prolonging Dora's stay.

But when the mother told them that from that day forward Dora was to belong to them, forever, as their sister and a child of the family, then a shout of joy arose that made the welkin ring again and awoke the echoes in the farthest corner of the garden.

It aroused Uncle Titus and brought him from his distant summer-house with a gentle smile, saying half to himself and half aloud, "It is a pity it will soon be over." Aunt Ninette was standing at an open window, looking down into the garden, and as she heard the shouts of joy that rose again and again from under the apple-tree, she said to herself, smiling "How we shall miss all this cheerful noise when we are far away." The children were indeed jubilant, and they decided to organize a feast in honor of Uncle Titus and Aunt Ninette, a feast more brilliant than any that had ever before made the shades of the garden glow with splendor.
That night Dora went up to her little room for the last time, for the next morning she was to move over to the other house.