And much as Elsie had always enjoyed that hour, she was almost glad of the respite, so fearful was she that her papa would see that something had agitated her, and insist upon knowing what it was.  She was very much troubled that she had been made the repository of such a secret, and fearful that she ought to tell her father or grandfather, because it seemed so very important that Arthur should be stopped in his evil courses.  But remembering that he had said that her assistance was his only hope for escaping detection, she at length decided that she need not speak about the matter to any one.

She had a trying time that day, endeavoring to keep the children amused; and her ingenuity and patience were taxed to the utmost to think of stories and games that would please them all.

It was still early in the afternoon when she seemed to have got quite to the end of her list.  She was trying to amuse Enna’s set, while her three companions and Herbert were taking care of themselves.  They had sat down on the floor, and were playing jack-stones.

“Let us play jack-stones, too,” said Flora.  “I don’t know how; but Elsie, you can teach me, can’t you?”

“No, Flora, I cannot indeed, for papa says I must not play that game, because he does not like to have me sit down on the floor,” replied Elsie.  “We must try to think of something else.”

“We needn’t sit on the floor, need we?  Couldn’t we play it on the table?” asked Flora.

“I don’t know; perhaps we could; but papa said I mustn’t play it,” replied Elsie, shaking her head doubtfully.

“But maybe he’d let you, if we don’t sit on the floor,” persisted the little girl.

Several other little ones joined their entreaties to Flora’s, and at length Elsie said, “Well, I will go and ask papa; perhaps he may let me, if I tell him we are not going to sit on the floor.”

She went to his dressing-room, but he was not there.  Next she tried the library, and was more successful; he was in an easy chair by the fire, reading.

But now that she had found him, Elsie, remembering how often he had told her never to ask a second time to do what he had once forbidden, was more than half afraid to prefer her request, and very much inclined to go back without doing so.

But as she stood a moment irresolute, he looked up from his book, and seeing who it was, smiled and held out his hand.

She went to him then, and said timidly, “Papa, some of the little ones want me to play jack-stones, to teach them how; may I, if we don’t sit on the floor?”

“Elsie,” he replied, in a tone of great displeasure, “it was only the other day that I positively forbade you to play that game, and, after all that I have said to you about not asking a second time, it surprises me very much that you would dare to do it.  Go to my dressing-room, and shut yourself into the closet there.”

Elsie burst into tears, as she turned to obey, then, hesitatingly, asked, “May I go down first, papa, and tell the children that I can’t come to play with them?”