"Come with me," he said; "I want you."
"What do you want me for, papa?" she asked, as he sat down and took her on his knee.
"What for? why to keep, to love, and to look at," he said laughing. "I have been away from my little girl so long, that now I want her close by my side, or on my knee, all the time. Do you not like to be with me?"
"Dearly well, my own darling papa," she answered, flinging her little arms around his neck, and laying her head on his breast.
He fondled her, and chatted with her for some time, then, still keeping her on his knee, took up a book and began to read.
Elsie saw with pain that it was a novel and longed to beg him to put it away, and spend the precious hours of the holy Sabbath in the study of God's word, or some of the lesser helps to Zion's pilgrims which the saints of our own or other ages have prepared. But she knew that it would be quite out of place for a little child like her to attempt to counsel or reprove her father; and that, tenderly as he loved and cherished her, he would never for one moment allow her to forget their relative positions.
At length she ventured to ask softly, "Papa, may I go to my own room now?"
"What for?" he asked; "are you tired of my company?"
"No, sir, oh! no; but I want—" she hesitated and hung her head for an instant, while the rich color mounted to cheek and brow; then raising it again, she said fearlessly, "I always want to spend a little while with my best Friend on Sabbath afternoon, papa."
He looked puzzled, and also somewhat displeased.