ys shall also be returned to
you, and you may take your meals with the family whenever you choose."

"Thank you, papa, you are very kind," replied the little girl; but her
heart sank, for she understood from his words that she was not restored
to favor as she had for a moment fondly imagined.

Neither spoke again for some moments. Each felt that this delightful
reunion--for it was delightful to both--this enjoyment of the interchange
of mutual affection, could not last.

Silent caresses, mingled with sobs and tears on Elsie's part, passed
between them; and at length Mr. Dinsmore said, "Elsie, my daughter, I
hope you are now ready to make the confession and promises I require?"

"Oh, papa! dear papa!" she said, looking up into his face with the tears
streaming down her own, "have I not been punished enough for that? and
can you not just punish me whenever I disobey you, without requiring any
promise?"

"Stubborn yet, Elsie," he answered with a frown. "No; as I have told you
before, my word is as the law of the Medes and Persians, which altered
not. I have required the confession and promise, and _you must make
them_."

He set her down, but she lingered a moment. "Once more, Elsie, I ask
you," he said, "will you obey?"

She shook her head; she could not speak.

"Then go," said her father. "I have given you the last caress I ever
shall, until you submit."

He put the letters into her hand as he spoke, and motioned her to be
gone; and Elsie fled away to her own room, to throw herself upon the bed,
and weep and groan in intense mental anguish.

She cared not for the letters now; they lay neglected on the floor, where
they had fallen unheeded from her hand. The gloom on her pathway seemed
all the darker for that bright but momentary gleam of sunshine. So dark
was the cloud that overshadowed her that for the time she seemed to have
lost all hope, and to be able to think of nothing but the apparent
impossibility of ever regaining her place in her father's heart. His
last words rang in her ears.

"Oh! papa, papa! my own papa!" she sobbed, "will you never love me again?
never kiss me, or call me pet names? Oh, _how can_ I bear it! how can
I ever live without your love?"

Her nerves, already weakened by months of mental suffering, could hardly
bear the strain; and when Fanny came into the room, an hour or two later,
she was quite frightened to find her young charge lying on the bed,
holding her head with both hands