nderly on her head.

"Oh, papa!" she cried joyously, starting up to a sitting posture as she
spoke. "I did not know you were there--did not hear you come in; but I
am so glad you have come!"

"Are you?" he asked, seating himself on the side of the bed and drawing
her into his arms. "Well, daughter, it is only for a moment, to bid you
good-night, as usual, and see that you are in need of nothing. Tell me,
are all your wants supplied?"

"Yes, sir; now that I have my father here to give me his good-night kiss
and blessing. Ah! papa dear, I do not know how I could ever live away
from you again. I am so glad you no longer have to go sailing away over
the ocean, leaving your children behind."

"I am glad of it, too," he returned, "but I sometimes fear that the day
may come when my dear eldest daughter will want to leave me for a home
with someone else."

"Indeed, father dear, you need not have the slightest fear of that," she
said, laying her head against his breast with a low, happy laugh. "I am
sure there isn't in the wide world any other man whom I could love half
so well as I do you. I am just as glad to belong to you now as ever I
was."

"And don't want me to give you away?"

"No, no, indeed!" she cried with energy. "Oh, papa! you surely are not
thinking of such a thing? You have said, over and over again, that you
would not,--at least not for years yet,--even if I wanted you to."

"And I say the same now; so don't be wanting me to," he returned in
jesting tone, and laying her down upon her pillow as he spoke. "Now go
to sleep at once, that you may be ready to rise at your usual early hour
and join your father in the morning stroll about the grounds. 'The Lord
bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be
gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and
give thee peace,'" he added in tender, solemn tones, his hand resting
upon her head as he spoke.

Then, with a good-night kiss upon her lips, he left her, and contented
and happy she speedily passed into the land of dreams.

The captain, passing through Grace's room to his own, paused for a
moment at her bedside, bent over her, and kissed the sweet lips; but she
slept on, unconscious of the caress.

He found Violet still awake, repeated to her his little talk with
Lucilla, and added, with evident satisfaction, "I feel convinced that,
as yet, no one has made any impression upon her heart, that I, her
father, still