“How?”

“Oh, Grace! don’t you know? can’t you guess?  It was when he and I stayed back while all the rest went to the beach, that evening after Betty’s friend told of seeing me at Sankaty.”

Grace drew a long breath.  “Oh, Lu,” she said pityingly, putting her arms lovingly about her sister, “I’m so sorry for you!  How could you bear it?  Did he hurt you very much?”

“Oh, yes, terribly; but I’m glad he did it (though I wouldn’t for anything let anybody know it but you), because I’d feel so mean if I hadn’t paid somehow for my badness.  Papa was so good and kind to me—­he always is—­and I had been behaving so hatefully to him.

“And he wasn’t in a bit of a passion with me.  I believe, as he told me, he did hate to punish me, and only did it to help me to learn to conquer my temper.”

“And to be obedient, too?”

“Yes; the punishment was for that too, he said.  But now don’t you think I have reason to feel worse about his going away just now than you?”

“Yes,” admitted Grace; “I’d feel ever so badly if I’d done anything to make dear papa sad and troubled; and I think I should be frightened to death if he was going to whip me.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” said Lulu, “for you would know papa wouldn’t hurt you any more than he thought necessary for your own good.  Now let me help you dress, for it must be near breakfast time.”

“Oh, thank you; yes, I’ll have to hurry.  Do you love papa as well as ever, Lu?”

“Better,” returned Lulu, emphatically; “it seems odd, but I do.  I shouldn’t though if I thought he took pleasure in beating me, or punishing me in any way.”

“I don’t b’lieve he likes to punish any of us,” said Grace.

“I know he doesn’t,” said Lulu.  “And it isn’t any odder that I should love him in spite of his punishments, than that he should love me in spite of all my naughtiness.  Yes, I do think, Gracie, we have the best father in the world.”

“’Course we have,” responded Grace; “but then we don’t have him half the time; he’s ’most always on his ship,” she added tearfully.

“Are you ready for breakfast, dears?” asked a sweet voice at the door.

“Yes, Grandma Elsie,” they answered, hastening to claim the good-morning kiss she was always ready to bestow.

Lulu’s heartache had found some relief in her confidence to her sister, and she showed a pleasanter and more cheerful face at the table than Violet expected to see her wear.

It grew brighter still when she learned that they were all to have a long, delightful drive over the hills and moors, starting almost immediately upon the conclusion of the meal.

The weather was charming, everybody in most amiable mood, and spite of the pain of the recent parting from him whom they so dearly loved, that would occasionally make itself felt in the hearts of wife and children, the little trip was an enjoyable one to all.