“Yes, Mr. Travilla,” she answered, “I know that the Bible says:  ’He that covereth his sins shall not prosper,’ and I know it tells me to obey my father; and I do think I am willing to confess my faults, and I do try to obey papa in everything that is right; but sometimes he bids me disobey God; and you know the Bible says:  ’We ought to obey God rather than men.’”

“I am afraid, my dear,” said Mr. Travilla gently, “that you are perhaps a little too much inclined to judge for yourself about right and wrong.  You must remember that you are but a very little girl yet, and that your father is very much older and wiser; and therefore I should say it would be much safer to leave it to him to decide these matters.  Besides, if he bids you do thus and so, I think all the responsibility of the wrong—­supposing there is any—­will rest with him, and he, not you, will have to account for it.”

“Oh! no, Mr. Travilla,” replied the little girl earnestly, “my Bible teaches me better than that; for it says:  ’Every one of us shall give account of himself to God;’ and in another place:  ’The soul that sinneth it shall die.’  So I know that I, and not papa, nor any one else, will have to give account for my sins.”

“I see it will never do for me to try to quote Scripture to you,” he remarked, looking rather discomfited; “for you know a great deal more about it than I do.  But I am very anxious to see you and your father friends again, for I cannot bear to see you both looking so unhappy.

“You have a good father, Elsie, and one that you may well be proud of—­for a more high-minded, honorable gentleman cannot be found anywhere; and I am quite sure he would never require you to do anything very wrong.  Have you any objection, my dear, to telling me what it is?”

“He bade me read to him, one Sabbath-day, a book which was only fit for week-day reading, because it had nothing at all in it about God, or being good—­and I could not do that; and now he says I must say I am sorry I refused to obey him that time, and promise always to do exactly as he bids me in future,” replied Elsie, weeping; “and oh!  Mr. Travilla, I cannot do that.  I cannot say I am sorry I did not disobey God, nor that I will disobey him in future, if papa bids me.”

“But if that was a sin, Elsie, it was surely a very little one; I don’t think God would be very angry with you for anything so small as that,” he said very gravely.

“Mr. Travilla,” Elsie replied in a tone of deep solemnity, “it is written, ’Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them;’ that is in the Bible; and the catechism says:  ’Every sin deserveth the wrath and curse of God!’ And oh!  Mr. Travilla,” she added in a tone of anguish, “if you knew how hard it is for me to keep from giving up, and doing what my conscience says is wrong, you wouldn’t try to persuade me to do it.”