After they had left the dining-room for the parlor, she asked if she might go to the little girl's apartments and see if she were feeling quite well.
"I really don't like to claim so much authority over my wife as to forbid her going where she will about my house, which is her own also," he said, with a slight smile, "but I should prefer to have the child left to herself for the present. I have not confined her to her rooms, and she can join us when she will. I only bade her leave my presence this afternoon till she could control herself; and she would understand from that that she was at liberty to return to it when ready to comply with the condition."
"How she will miss her good-night chat seated upon her father's knee; the good-night hug and kiss he has been wont to bestow upon her!" sighed Rose.
"Yes," he said, in a moved tone, rising and beginning to pace the room in a disturbed way, "she will hardly know what to do without them; nor shall I; but we must. Don't make any further efforts to shake my resolve, Rose, for I cannot, must not, pass lightly over so serious a misdemeanor as she has been guilty of in this instance."
Rose could but comply with his wishes, so plainly and strongly expressed, and Elsie passed the evening alone, except for the companionship of her nurse; for she dared not trust herself again in her father's presence till she could hope to be able to maintain the self-control he required.
As her hour for retiring drew near, Aunt Chloe noted how she was listening for approaching footsteps, at the same time glancing frequently at her watch or the clock on the mantel.
"Sho, honey, you's gwine to de parlor to say good-night fo' you goes to bed?" she remarked inquiringly.
Elsie shook her head, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "How can I, mammy, when I mustn't say father or papa?" she sobbed. "I couldn't without crying, if at all; and papa forbade me his presence till I could control myself. There, my bedtime has come, and papa hasn't. Oh, I could hardly help hoping he did not mean to let me go to bed unforgiven. There's never been a night before since—since those dreadful days at Roselands, that I've gone without his kiss, or without being held close to his heart with tender, loving words as if I were the dearest thing to him in all the world."
"Don't you go for to fret yo' po' heart out, blessed chile," Chloe said, taking her nursling in her kind arms. "Yo' ole mammy lubs you like her life; so does yo' pa too; an' maybe he's gwine come in hyah 'bout de time you's ready fo' bed, to kiss an' make up ef you promises neber to do so no mo' as you been an' gone an' done dis hyah mornin'."