Had some new misfortunes befallen the Hansen household?
All this of course troubled Sylvius Hogg greatly.

He felt such a paternal affection for the brother and sister that he could not have been more fond of them if they had been his own children.

How much he had missed them during his short absence.
"They will tell me all by and by," he said to himself.

"They will have to tell me all.

Am I not a member of the family ?" Yes; Sylvius Hogg felt now that he had an undoubted right to be consulted in regard to everything connected with the private life of his young friends, and to know why Joel and Hulda seemed even more unhappy than at the time of his departure.