"You'll find out when he comes," laughed Max. "Good-night," and he
hastened away to his own room.

A guilty conscience made Lulu very uneasy as she hurried through her
preparations for bed, and as she heard her father's step approach the door
she grew quite frightened.

He came in and closed it after him. Lulu was standing in her night-dress,
just ready for bed. He caught up a heavy shawl, wrapped it about her, and
seating himself lifted her to his knee.

"Why, how you are trembling!" he exclaimed. "What is the matter?"

"O papa! are you--are you going to punish me for being so naughty this
evening?" she asked, hanging her head while her cheeks grew red.

"That was not my intention in coming in here," he said. "But, Lulu, your
wilfulness is a cause of great anxiety to me. I hardly know what to do
with you. I am very loath to burden our kind friends--Grandpa Dinsmore and
Grandma Elsie--with so rebellious and unmanageable a child, for it will be
painful to them to be severe with you, and yet I see that you will compel
them to it."

"I won't be punished by anybody but you! Nobody else has a right!" burst
out Lulu.

"Yes, my child, I have given them the right, and the only way for you to
escape punishment is not to deserve it. And if you prove too troublesome
for them, you are to be sent to a boarding-school, and that, you will
understand, involves separation from Max and Gracie, and life among total