"Yes, papa. But aren't you too tired to hold me?"
"No; it rests me to have my darling in my arms," he answered, caressing her with his wonted tender fondness.
"Papa, I'm afraid I don't deserve it to-night," she murmured, hanging her head, while a deep blush suffused her cheek.
"I'm sorry indeed, if that is so," he said gently; "but very glad that my little daughter never tries to conceal any wrong-doing of her own from me."
Then he waited for her to speak; he knew there was no need to question her.
"Papa," she said, so low that he barely caught the words, "I went out on the river in a canoe, with Annis, this afternoon. Cyril and Don rowed it."
"And my little girl went without her father's permission?" His tone was one of grieved surprise.
"But you were not here to give it, papa," she said, bursting into tears.
"A very good and sufficient reason why my daughter should have refused to go."
"But, papa, I did not know you would object, and I thought you would not want me to spoil the pleasure of my cousins; and they said I would if I refused to go."