“Suppose a man has promised to commit murder; should he keep that promise or break it?” asked Violet.

“Break it, of course,” replied Lulu; “but this is quite another thing, Mamma Vi.”

“I’m not so clear about that,” Violet answered seriously.  “In the case we have supposed, the promise would be to break the sixth commandment; in yours it is to break the fifth.”

“I’m not disobeying papa,” asserted Lulu, hotly.

“Are you not?” asked Violet; “did he not bid you obey my grandfather while he is not here to direct you himself?”

“Yes, ma’am,” acknowledged Lulu, reluctantly; “but I’m sure he never thought your grandpa would be so unreasonable as to say I must take lessons of a man like Signor Foresti who had struck me:  and that when I did not deserve it at all.”

“Lulu,” said Violet, a little severely, “your father made no reservation.  But now good-night,” she added in a more affectionate tone.

“I trust you will wake to-morrow morning in a better frame of mind.”

“But I won’t,” muttered Lulu, as she left the room and retired to her own; “I’ll not be driven, coaxed, or hired.”

CHAPTER XIX.

“For what I will, I will, and there’s an end.”

SHAKESPEAKE.

Shortly after breakfast the next morning, and before the hour for setting out for school, Elsie called Lulu aside, and in a gentle, affectionate way asked if she were now willing to do as directed by Mr. Dinsmore.

“Grandma Elsie,” said the little girl, “I am ready to do anything he bids me if it is not to take lessons of that horrid man who dared to strike me after being told by Grandpa Dinsmore himself that he must never do so.”

“I am grieved, my child, that you have no better answer than that to give me,” Elsie said, “and I think you know that it will not satisfy my father; he will have those committed to his care obedient in everything; and he bade me tell you that if you will not submit to his authority in this matter—­if you do not to-day obey his order to finish that interrupted music-lesson—­you must, on returning home, go directly to your own room and stay there; and as long as you continue rebellious, all your time at home is to be spent in that room and alone.”

She paused for a reply, but none came.  Lulu sat with eyes cast down and cheeks hotly flushing, her countenance expressing anger and stubborn resolve.

Elsie sighed involuntarily.

“Lulu, my dear child,” she said, “do not try this contest with my father.  I warn you that to do so will only bring you trouble and sorrow; he is a most determined man, and because he feels that he has right on his side in this thing, you will find him unconquerable.”

“I think that is what he will find me, Grandma Elsie,” replied the determinately self-willed little girl.

“Surely you are showing scant gratitude for the many kindnesses received at my father’s hands,” Elsie said; “but I will not upbraid you with them.  You may go now.”