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 seemed to be fuller and more delicately tinted; her lips a little more rounded and redder with the wine of life. Colonel Lauriston also noted a little more firmness about the well-chiseled rounded chin.

In the midst of one of her bursts of admiration she turned to him as she felt his scrutiny.

"Why, Daddy, have I changed so much that you are trying to get acquainted with me over again. Have I grown so much as that?"

He smiled as he said: "I do think I'll have to get acquainted again. You've changed and improved. Your year has done you good. You're now more than ever the image of your mother."

"I may have changed outwardly but inwardly I'm not changed. I'm still Lida," she exclaimed, raising his hand to her lips affectionately.

"I don't know about that. I have a suspicion that you must have met someone who's changed your heart just a little. And I fear my girl won't be with me long."

"No one can take your place, Daddy," she replied evasively.

"Oh, it's not that. I know I won't be with you always and I'd like to see you settled in a home of your own before I go. I'd sort of hoped you might find some nice young man up there. Did you, Lida?"

The girl's blushes betrayed her.

"There—there, I thought so," her father teased, noting her embarrassment. "Tell me about him. I might as well know first as last."