"Shall we stay here till you come down again, papa?" asked Max.
"No; you and Lulu may go to bed now."
"Then good-night, papa."
"No, you need not bid me good-night yet," the captain said. "I shall see you both in your rooms before you are asleep."
"Well, Lu, are you sorry now that papa made you come home so soon?" asked Max, as they went up-stairs together.
"No, indeed! Haven't we had a nice time, Max? Oh, if only we could keep papa all the time!"
"I wish we could," said Max. "But we won't have so hard a time as we've had for the last two years whenever he was away."
They had reached the door of Lulu's room. "Max," she said, turning to him as with a sudden thought, "what do you suppose papa is coming to our rooms for?"
"What do you suppose? have you done anything you ought to be punished for?" asked Max, a little mischievously. "I thought you looked very cross and rebellious about the hat and about having to come home so soon. I'm very sure, from what I've heard of Grandpa Dinsmore's strictness, that if you were his child you'd get a whipping for it."
Lulu looked frightened.