MARTHA FINLEY Ultimate Collection – 35+ Novels in One Volume (Including The Complete Elsie Dinsmore Series & Mildred Keith Collection). Finley Martha

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СКАЧАТЬ change of air has done you good already, I think," he remarked; "you seem to have a better appetite than you have had since your sickness."

      "Yes, papa, I believe everything tastes good because it is home," she answered, smiling lovingly up at him.

      After dinner he held her on his knee a while, chatting pleasantly with her about their plans for the future; and then, laying her on the sofa in her pretty boudoir, he brought a book from his library, and read to her.

      It was a very interesting story he had chosen; and he had been reading for more than an hour, when, happening to look at her he noticed that her eyes were very bright, and her cheeks flushed, as if with fever. He suddenly closed the book, and laid his finger on her pulse.

      "Oh! papa, please go on," she begged; "I am so much interested."

      "No, daughter, your pulse is very quick, and I fear this book is entirely too exciting for you at present—so I shall not read you any more of it to-day," he said, laying it aside.

      "Oh! papa, I want to hear it so much; do please read a little more, or else let me have the book myself," she pleaded in a coaxing tone.

      "My little daughter must not forget old lessons," he replied very gravely.

      She turned away her head with almost a pout on her lip, and her eyes full of tears.

      He did not reprove her, though, as he once would have done; but seeming not to notice her ill-humor, exerted himself to soothe and amuse her, by talking in a cheerful strain of other matters; and in a very few moments all traces of it had disappeared, and she was answering him in her usual pleasant tone.

      They had both been silent for several minutes, when she said, "Please, papa, put your head close down to me, I want to say something to you."

      He complied, and putting her little arm around his neck, she said, in a very humble tone, "Dear papa, I was very naughty and cross just now; and I think I have been cross several times lately; and you have been so good and kind not to reprove or punish me, as I deserved. Please, papa, forgive me; I am very sorry, and I will try to be a better girl."

      He kissed her very tenderly.

      "I do forgive you freely, my little one," he said, "I know it seemed hard to give up the story just there, but it was for your good, and you must try always to believe that papa knows best. You are very precious to your father's heart, Elsie, but I am not going to spoil my little girl because I love her so dearly; nor because I have been so near losing her."

      His voice trembled as he pronounced the last words, and for a moment emotion kept him silent. Then he went on again.

      "I shall never again bid you do violence to your conscience, my daughter, but to all the commands which I do lay upon you I shall still expect and require the same ready and cheerful obedience that I have heretofore. It is my duty to require, and yours to yield it."

      "Yes, papa, I know it is," she said with a little sigh, "but, it is very difficult sometimes to keep from wanting to have my own way."

      "Yes, darling, I know it, for I find it so with myself," replied her father gently; "but we must, ask God to help us to give up our own wills, and be satisfied to do and have what we ought, rather than what we would like."

      "I will, papa," she whispered, hugging him tighter and tighter. "I am so glad you teach me that."

      They were quite quiet again for a little while. She was running her fingers through his hair.

      "Oh, papa!" she exclaimed, "I see two or three white hairs! I am so sorry! I don't want you to get old. What made these come so soon, papa?"

      He did not reply immediately, but, taking her in his arms, held her close to his heart. It was beating very fast.

      Suddenly she seemed to comprehend.

      "Was it because you were afraid I was going to die, papa?" she asked.

      "Yes, dearest, and because I had reason, to think that my own cruelty had killed you."

      The words were almost inaudible, but she heard them.

      "Dear dear papa, how I love you!" she said, putting her arms around his neck again; "and I am so glad, for your sake, that I did not die."

      He pressed her closer and closer, caressing her silently with a heart too full for words.

      They sat thus for some time, but were at length interrupted by the entrance of Chloe, who had been left behind at Roselands to attend to the packing and removal of Elsie's clothes, and all her little possessions. She had finished her work, and her entrance was immediately followed by that of the men-servants bearing several large trunks and boxes, the contents of which she proceeded at once to unpack and rearrange in the new apartments.

      Elsie watched this operation with a good deal of interest, occasionally directing where this or that article should be put; but in the midst of it all was carried off by her father to the tea-table.

      Soon after tea the servants were all called together, and Mr. Dinsmore, after addressing a few words to them on the importance of calling upon God—the blessings promised to those who did, and the curses pronounced upon those individuals and families who did not—read a chapter from the Bible and offered up a prayer.

      All were solemn and attentive, and all seemed pleased with the arrangement—for Mr. Dinsmore had told them it was to be the regular custom of the house, morning and evening—but Elsie, Mrs. Murray, and Chloe fairly wept for joy and thankfulness.

      Elsie begged for another chapter and prayer in the privacy of her own rooms, and then Chloe undressed her, and her father carried her to her bed and placed her in it with a loving good-night kiss. And thus ended the first happy day in her own dear home.

      Chapter XIV

       Table of Contents

      "Her world was ever joyous;

       She thought of grief and pain

       As giants in the olden time,

       That ne'er would come again."

      MRS. HALE'S ALICE RAY.

      "Then all was jollity,

       Feasting, and mirth."

      ROWE'S JANE SHORE.

      It was with a start, and a momentary feeling of perplexity as to her whereabouts, followed almost instantly by the glad remembrance that she was indeed at home, that the little Elsie awoke the next morning. She sat up in the bed and gazed about her. Everything had a new, fresh look, and an air of simple elegance, that struck her as very charming.

      A door on her right, communicating with her father's sleeping apartment, was slightly ajar, and she could hear him moving about.

      "Papa!" she called, in her sweet, silvery tones.

      "Good-morning, daughter," he said, appearing in answer to her summons. "Why, how СКАЧАТЬ