ehow.

Floss, left alone with her father, ventured on another appeal.

"You won't whip Carrots till mamma comes in, will you, papa?" she said
softly.

"Why not? Do you think I want her to help me to whip him?" said Captain
Desart.

"Oh no--but--I think perhaps mamma would understand better how it was,
for, oh papa, dear, Carrots _isn't_ a naughty boy; he never, never tells
stories."

"Well, we'll see," replied her father; "and in the meantime it will do
him no harm to think things over by himself in my dressing-room for a
little."

"Oh, poor Carrots!" murmured Floss to herself; "it'll be getting dark,
and he's all alone. I _wish_ mamma would come in!"

CHAPTER VI.

CARROTS "ALL RIGHT" AGAIN.

"When next the summer breeze comes by,
And waves the bush, the flower is dry."

_Walter Scott._

Floss crept upstairs to the dressing-room door. It was locked. Though
the key was in the lock, she knew she must not turn it; and even had it
been open she would not have dared to go in, after her father's
forbidding it. But she thought she might venture to speak to Carrots, to
comfort him a little, through the door. She was dreadfully afraid that
he might feel frightened in there alone if it got dark before he was
released, for sometimes he was afraid of the dark--he was such a little
boy, remember.

Floss tapped at the door.

"Carrots," she said, "are you there?"

[Illustration: Floss tapped at the door. "Carrots," she said, "are you
there?" _To face page_ 78.]

"Yes," said Carrots; "but you can't come in, Floss. Mott has locked me
in."

"I know," said Floss; "what are you doing, Carrots? Are you very
unhappy?"

"Not so very. I'm crying--I'm crying a great lot, Floss, but I don't
think I'm so very unhappy--not now you've come to the door."

"Poor Carrots," said Floss, "I'll stay by the door, if you like. I'll
just run down to the front door now and then, to see if mamma is coming,
and then I'll come straight back to you."

"All right," said Carrots. Whenever he wanted to seem very brave, and
rather a big boy, he used to say "all right," and just now he was trying
very hard to be like a big boy.

There was silence for a minute or two... Then Carrots called out again.

"Floss," he said, "are you there?"

"Yes, dear," replied faithful Floss.

"I want just to tell you _one_ thing," he said. "Floss, I never did
touch nurse's sovereigns. I never knowed she