going upstairs.

“Indeed it is!” was Lulu’s earnest rejoinder, “and I wish yours and all fathers were like mine. He isn’t foolishly indulgent; all his children know they must yield ready and cheerful obedience whenever he gives an order, but it is always so evidently for our good, and so pleasantly spoken, unless we are showing ourselves wilful and stubborn, that it is not at all hard for any but a very bad, contrary child—such I have sometimes been, I’m ashamed to own—to obey.”

“How blessed you are, Lulu!” sighed Marian. “But,” she added with a look of surprise, “you did not bid him good-night, and I could not help wondering at the omission.”

“Ah, that was because he will come presently to my room for just a few minutes’ chat and a good-night kiss,” Lulu said with a joyous smile. “Mamma, my own mother, used to do it, but she is gone now, and to our great joy papa takes her place in that. I would not miss it for anything; so good-night and pleasant dreams, for I must go.”

“Good-night, you dear, sweet girl,” Marian said, folding her arms about Lulu for an instant, and kissing her with warmth of affection. “I love you, and my now sainted mother loved you too. But oh, what would I not give for such a father as yours!”