ie'e room to be nearer to you?"

"Yes; and with the door open between it and mine, so that if you want
anything in the night you will only need to call to me and I will go to
you at once.

"Now if there are any more questions you would like answered, let me
hear them."

"There is something I'd like to say, papa, but I'm--almost afraid."

"Afraid of what, daughter?" he asked, as she paused in some
embarrassment, and with a half pleading look into his eyes.

"That you might think it saucy and be displeased with me.

"Do you mean it so, daughter?"

"Oh, no indeed, papa!"

"Then you need not be afraid to let me hear it."

"Papa, it is only that I--I think if you had talked to me this morning,
when you called me to you, about the wickedness of being too proud to
ask Alma's pardon, and reasoned with me as you did a little while ago,
about it all, I--I'd have obeyed you at once; you know you do almost
always show me the reasonableness of your commands before, or when, you
lay them upon me."

"Yes, my child," he said in a kindly tone, "I have done so as a rule,
and should in this instance, but that I was much hurried for time. That
will sometimes happen, and you and all my children must always obey me
promptly, whether you can or cannot at the moment see the reasonableness
of the order given. Is your estimation of your father's wisdom and his
love for you so low that you cannot trust him thus far?"

"O papa, forgive me!" she exclaimed, putting her arms about his neck and
laying her cheek to his. "I do hope I'll never, never again hesitate one
minute to obey any order from you; because I know you love me, and that
you are very wise and would never bid me do anything but what I ought."

"Certainly never intentionally, daughter; and surely your father, who is
so many years older than yourself, should be esteemed by you as somewhat
wiser."

"O papa, I know you are a great, great deal wiser than I," she said
earnestly. "How ridiculous it seems to think of anybody comparing my
wisdom with yours! I know I'm only a silly little girl, and not a good
one either, and it would be a sad thing to have a father no wiser or
better than myself."

CHAPTER XIII.

The morning of that critical day found Grandma Elsie as calm and
cheerful as she had been the previous evening, though every other face
among the older members of the family showed agitation and anxiety. Her
daughters, Elsie and Violet, were with her almost con