id Mr. George, "not much. I took precautions against that."

"What precautions?" asked Rollo.

"Why, I sent a man with you to take care of you," said Mr. George.

"You sent a man with me?" repeated Rollo, very much surprised.

"Yes," said Mr. George, quietly. "As soon as you had gone out of my
room, to go on board the raft, I called the waiter, and asked him to
send a commissioner with you, to see that you did not get into any
difficulty, and to take care of you in case there should be any
occasion."

"Now, uncle George," said Rollo, in a mournful and complaining tone,
"that was not fair."

"Why not?" asked Mr. George.

"Because," said Rollo, "I wanted to take care of myself."

"Well," said Mr. George, "you _did_ take care of yourself--didn't you?
My plan did not interfere with yours at all--did it?"

Rollo did not answer, but he looked as if he were not convinced.

"I gave the man special charge," said Mr. George, "not to interfere with
you in any way, and not even to let you know that I had said any thing
about you to him, so that you should be left entirely to your own
resources. And you _were_ so left. You acted in the whole affair just as
you thought proper, and took care of yourself admirably well. I think
especially that you were very wise in leaving the raft when you did,
instead of remaining on board three or four hours longer. But however
this may be, you acted for yourself throughout. I did not interfere with
you at all."

"Well," said Rollo, after a moment's pause, "what you say is very true.
But it seems to me it was a little artful in you to do that; and you
always tell me that I must not be artful, but must be perfectly honest
and open in all that I do. Don't you think you deceived me a little?"

"I do not see that I did," said Mr. George. "When we deceive a person,
we do it by saying or doing something to give him a false impression, or
to make him suppose that something is true which is not true. Now, what
did I do or say to give you any false impression?"

"Why, nothing, I suppose," said Rollo, "except sending that man to take
care of me without letting me know it."

"That was _concealing_ something from you," said Mr. George, "not
deceiving you. There are a thousand occasions when it is right to
conceal things from the people around us. That is very different from
deceiving them. This was a case in which I thought it best to conceal
what I did, for a time, though I intended to tell you