Then the captain stepped to the chamber door, pushed it wider open, and came to the bedside.
Lulu pretended to be asleep, keeping her eyes tight shut, but all the time feeling that he was standing there and looking down at her.
He sighed slightly, turned away, and went from the room; then she buried her face in the pillows and cried softly but quite bitterly.
"He might have kissed me," she said to herself; "he would if he loved me as much as he used to before he got married."
Then his sigh seemed to echo in her heart, and she grew remorseful over the thought that her misconduct had grieved as well as displeased him.
And how much more grieved and displeased he would be if he knew how she had disregarded his wishes and commands during his absence that day!
And soon he would be ordered away again, perhaps to the other side of the world; in danger from the treacherous deep and maybe from savages, too, in some of those far-away places where his vessel would touch; and so the separation might be for years or forever in this world; and if she continued to be the bad girl she could not help acknowledging to herself she now was, how dared she hope to be with her Christian father in another life? She had no doubt that he was a Christian; it was evident from his daily walk and conversation; and she was equally certain that she herself was not.
And what a kind, affectionate father he had always been to her; she grew more and more remorseful as she thought of it; and if he had been beside her at that moment would certainly have confessed all the wrong-doing of the day and asked forgiveness.
But he was probably in bed now; all was darkness and silence in the house; so she lay still, and presently forgot all vexing thought in sound, refreshing sleep.
When she awoke again the morning sun was shining brightly, and her mood had changed.