“Yes; it is merely a suspicion of mine that I don’t want to trust to any ears but yours. I think—indeed feel certain—that your Aunt Zoe desires, as strongly as you do to be the Peri.”
“Then of course there isn’t any chance at all for me!” pouted Lulu, an ugly frown on her downcast face.
“I hoped my little daughter would be generous enough to prefer another’s pleasure to her own,” the captain remarked with a slight sigh.
“Don’t sigh, papa, don’t feel badly about it,” she entreated, hugging him tight. “I will try to be good about it; I won’t say a word to let any body know I’d care to be the Peri; and I’ll do my best to be cheerful and pleasant, and to make them all enjoy themselves.”
“That is my own dear child,” he said, caressing her; “it is all I could ask of you.”
“And now that I think about it, I’m sure Aunt Zoe has the best right, because ’twas she who suggested having a magic cave and a Peri,” Lulu said in her ordinarily pleasant tone; “beside, she has always been kind to Max and Gracie, and ’most always to me too.”
“Perhaps always when you were deserving of it.”
“Yes, papa, I suppose so.”
“Well, daughter, it is high time you were in bed, so unless you have something more to ask or to say, I will kiss you good-night and leave you to your rest.”
“That’s all now, thank you, papa, only—do you think I’ve been a pretty good girl to-day?” she asked with a wistful, longing look into his eyes.