“Well, you needn’t be; I don’t care,” Lulu said defiantly, and with a little stamp of her foot.  “No, not if all the old tyrants in the world were angry with me!”

“Oh, Lu, don’t talk so!” entreated Grace; “and you do care if papa is displeased?  Our own dear papa who loves us so dearly?”

“Yes,” acknowledged Lulu, in a more quiet and subdued tone.  “Oh, Gracie, why wasn’t I made good like you?”

“Don’t you remember the Bible verse we learned the other day?” queried Grace. “‘There is none good; no, not one.’”

“Then Grandpa Dinsmore isn’t good himself, and ought to have more patience with me,” remarked Lulu.  “But don’t you fret about it, Gracie; there’s no need.”

“You’re always sorry when I’m in trouble, and I can’t help feeling so when you are,” said Grace.

Violet was dressing for dinner, thinking sadly the while upon what she had just learned from Grace.

“How it would trouble her father if he should hear it!” she said to herself.  “I hope grandpa will not consider it necessary to report her conduct to him.  Of course, according to his requirements she should tell him herself, but I presume she will hardly have the courage to refrain from making her behavior appear less reprehensible than it actually was.”

She questioned with herself whether to speak to Lulu on the subject of her misconduct, but decided not to do so at present, unless something should occur to lead to it naturally.

Her toilet completed, she went down to the parlor, and there found her grandfather alone.

He looked up with a welcoming smile; Violet had always been a particular favorite with him.

“The first down, little cricket,” he said, using an old-time pet name, and pausing in his walk (for he was pacing the floor) to gallantly hand her to a seat on a sofa; then placing himself by her side, “How extremely youthful you look, my pet!  Who would take you for a matron?”

“To tell you a secret, grandpa,” she said, with a merry look, “I feel quite young still when the children are not by; and not always very old even when they are with me.  By the way, how have they behaved themselves today?”

A grave, slightly annoyed look came over his face as she asked the question.

“Max and Gracie as well as any one could desire,” he said; “but Lulu—­really, Vi, if she were my own child, I should try the virtue of a rod with her.”

Violet’s face reflected the gravity of his, while she gave vent to an audible sigh.

Mr. Dinsmore went on to describe Lulu’s behavior on that and several other days, then wound up with the question, “What do you think her father would have me do with her?”

“I suppose he would say send her to a boarding-school; but, grandpa, I am very loath to see that done.  At the same time I cannot bear to have you annoyed with her ill-conduct, and I am thinking of attempting the task of teaching her myself.”