“No; there is another that I am still more desirous to have you grant.”
He paused for a moment, then went on:
“I have a very fiery-tempered little daughter whom I love so dearly that it gives me great pain to punish her for her outbursts of passion.”
Rosie’s cheeks grew suddenly very hot and her eyes were downcast.
“I am certain she is fighting hard against her besetting sin,” the captain continued, “and I am trying by every means in my power to help her; and the favor I ask is that you will join me in this by kindly refraining from provoking her even in sport.
“Please understand, my dear little sister, that I am not saying you ever have intentionally provoked her, and that I know and acknowledge that it is no difficult matter to rouse her temper.”
It cost Rosie a desperate effort to make the acknowledgment, but she forced herself to answer, “But if you did say it, ’twould be nothing but the truth; for I have teased her purposely more than once. But if you’ll forgive me this time, cap—brother Levis—I’ll try not to do it again. I never thought of it as an unkindness to you.”
“My children are very near and dear to me, Rosie,” he said; “so near and so dear that injury to them is much more trying than a personal one.
“But I am fond of my little sister, too; both for my wife’s sake and her own,” he added, in a kindly tone, and with an affectionate pressure of her hand which he had taken in his. “Of course I forgive the past, while thanking you heartily for your promise in regard to the future.”
“Does Lulu hate me?” she asked, half tearfully and blushing vividly.