hich I will excuse for once," returned his father with an indulgent
smile.

CHAPTER XVI.

Day had fully dawned before the Woodburn household was astir, and it was
long past his accustomed hour when the captain paid his usual morning
visit to his little daughters.

He found them up and dressed and ready with a glad greeting.

"Were you able to sleep, my darlings?" he asked, caressing them in turn.

"Oh yes, indeed, papa, we slept nicely," they answered.

"And feel refreshed and well this morning?"

"Yes, papa; thank you very much for letting us sleep so long."

"I allowed myself the same privilege," he said pleasantly. "We will have
no school to-day, I have already been notified that there will be a
preliminary examination of the prisoners, before the magistrate this
morning, and that you, Lulu, and Max and I must attend as witnesses."

"I'd rather not go, papa; please don't make me," pleaded Lulu.

"My child, it is not I, but the law that insists," he said; "but you
need not feel disturbed over the matter; you have only to tell a
straightforward story of what you heard and saw and did in connection
with the attempted robbery.

"I am very glad, very thankful," he went on, "that I have always found
my little daughter perfectly truthful."

"Max too, papa."

"Yes, Max too; and when you give your testimony I want you to remember
that God--the God of truth, who abhors deceit and the deceitful, and who
knows all things--hears every word you say."

Taking up her Bible and opening it at the twenty-fourth psalm, he read,
"He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Then turning to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, "All liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."

Closing the book and laying it aside, "My dear children," he said
earnestly and with grave tenderness, "you see how God hates lying and
deceit; how sorely he will punish them if not repented of and forsaken.
Speak the truth always though at the risk of torture and death; never
tell a lie though it should be no more than to assert that two and two
do not make four.

"Be courteous to all so far as you can without deceit, but never,
_never_ allow your desire to be polite to betray you into words or acts
that are not strictly truthful."

The ch