"Papa, I have re-written that composition and hope you will find it a great deal better, I have studied my lessons too, till I think I can recite them creditably."
"Ah, that is well," he said, laying a hand tenderly on her head and smiling affectionately down into the eyes upraised to his. "I will go with you presently to hear the lessons and examine your little essay."
When he had done so, "I am very glad indeed, daughter," he said, "to be able to bestow hearty praise on you this time; you have greatly improved your composition, and your recitations were quite perfect."
He drew her to his knee as he spoke, she blushing with pleasure at his words.
"I missed my eldest daughter, from the family circle this evening," he went on smoothing her hair caressingly; "indeed I think we all missed her. I hope we will not be deprived of her company in the same way again."
"I hope not, papa; I do mean to be more faithful in preparing my lessons. I'm sure I ought when I have such a kind, kind teacher," she added looking lovingly into his eyes. "Dear papa," putting her arm round his neck and laying her cheek to his, "I do love you so, so much!"
"My darling," he responded, "your love is very precious to me, and I don't think it can be greater than mine for you. My daughter's worth to her fond father—could not be computed in dollars and cents," he added with a happy laugh.
"I hope Grandma Elsie found your sewing well done?"
"Not so very, papa," she replied, her tone expressing some mortification; "she said it was not so nicely done as the last."
"That is a pity; it will hardly do to keep on so—going backward instead of forward as regards improvement in that line of work."