“Possibly not,” he sighed, “though I have heard no complaint of illness.”
A light broke upon Violet, and she began talking of something else.
But the captain’s fatherly heart was stirred at the thought that perhaps his child was not quite well; that there might be found in threatened illness, some excuse for the misconduct of the day; and on leaving the table he went in search of Lulu.
She was in the little tower-room again, and hearing him call to her from the adjoining room, hastened to obey the summons.
“I am here, papa,” she said, appearing before him with drooping head and downcast eyes.
“Are you not well?” he asked, and his tone was very kind.
“Yes, sir,” she answered tremulously, and without raising her eyes.
“I want you always to tell me when you feel at all ill,” he said. “We are all expecting to spend the evening together in the usual way, and will be glad to have you with us,” he added; then turned and left the room.
“He didn’t call me daughter, or his child, or any thing, but Lulu,” she sighed to herself; “and any other time he would have taken my hand and led me with him. Oh, it isn’t nice at all to be treated like a visitor!”
She had always greatly enjoyed the evenings when they were just a family by themselves, yet she shrank from accepting her father’s invitation, feeling that she could not be one of them as heretofore.