"Yet you are my own dear child, and it is precisely because I love you so dearly that I am so distressed over your quick temper and wilfulness. I fear that if not conquered they will cause great unhappiness to yourself as well as to your friends. I want you to promise me, daughter, that you will try to conquer them, asking God to help you."
"I will, papa," she said, with unwonted humility; "but, oh, I wish you were going to stay with us! It's easier to be good with you than with anybody else."
"I am sorry, indeed, that I cannot," he said, rising and taking her hand. "Come, we must go back to the house now."
They moved along in silence for a little, then Lulu said, with an affectionate look up into her father's face, "Papa, I do so like to walk this way!"
"How do you mean?" he asked, smiling kindly upon her.
"With my hand in yours, papa. You know I haven't often had the chance."
"No, my poor child," he sighed, "that is one of the deprivations to which a seaman and his family have to submit."
"Well," said the little girl, lifting his hand to her lips, "I'd rather have you for my father than anybody else, for all that."
At that he bent down and kissed her with a smile full of pleasure and fatherly affection.