eration," was all he said, and she
knew from his grave accents that she was in some danger of receiving
what she felt to be her deserts.

CHAPTER VII.

"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth
his mother to shame."--_Prov_. 29: 15.

Lulu hated suspense; it seemed to her worse than the worst certainty; so
when they had gone a few steps farther she said, hesitating and blushing
very deeply, "Papa, if you are going to punish me as--as I--said I 'most
wished you would, please don't let Mamma Vi or anybody know it, and--"

"Certainly not; it shall be a secret between our two selves," he said as
she broke off without finishing her sentence; "if we can manage it," he
added a little doubtfully.

"They all go down to the beach every evening, you know, papa," she
suggested in a timid, half-hesitating way, and trembling as she spoke.

"Yes, that would give us a chance; but I have not said positively that I
intend to punish you in that way."

"No, sir; but--oh, do please say certainly that you will or you won't."

The look he gave her as she raised her eyes half fearfully to his face
was very kind and affectionate, though grave and judicial. "I am not
angry with you," he said, "in the sense of being in a passion or out of
patience--not in the least; but I feel it to be my duty to do all I
possibly can to help you to be a better child, and noticing, as I have
said, for the last two or three days what a wilful, wicked temper you
were indulging, I have been considering very seriously whether I ought
not to try the very remedy you have yourself suggested, and I am afraid
I ought indeed. Do you still think, as you told me a while ago, that
this sort of punishment might be a help to you in trying to be good?"

Lulu hesitated a moment, then said impetuously, and as if determined to
own the truth though it were to pass sentence upon herself, "Yes, papa,
honestly I do; though I don't want you to do it one bit. But," she
added, "I sha'n't love you any less if you whip me ever so hard, because
I shall know you don't like to do it, and wouldn't except for the reason
you've given."

"No, indeed, I should not," he said; "but you are to stay behind
to-night when the others go to the beach."

"Yes, papa, I will," she answered submissively, but with a perceptible
tremble in her voice.

Grace and Max were coming to meet them, so there was no opportunity to
talk any more on the subject, and she walk