"Yes, papa." Her voice was very low and tremulous, her heart throbbed almost to suffocation, her bosom heaved tumultuously, and her color came and went with every breath.
He rose and paced hurriedly across the room two or three times, then coming back to her side, "Tell me all about it," he said sternly--"every action, every word spoken by either, as far as you can recall it."
She obeyed in the same low, tremulous tones in which she had answered him before, her voice now and then broken by a half-smothered sob, and her eyes never once meeting his, which she felt were fixed so severely upon her tearful, downcast face.
He cross-questioned her till he knew all that had pa.s.sed nearly as well as if he had been present through the whole interview, his tones growing more and more stern and angry.
"And you dared to permit all that, Elsie?" he exclaimed when she had finished; "to allow that vile wretch to put his arm around you, hold your hand in his, for half an hour probably, and even to press his lips again and again to yours or to your cheek; and that after I had told you I would not have him take such a liberty with you for half I am worth; and--"
"Not to my lips, papa."
"Then it is not quite so bad as I thought, but bad enough certainly; and all this after I had positively forbidden you to even so much as exchange the slightest salutation with him. What am I to think of such high-handed rebellion?"
"Papa," she said beseechingly, "is not that too hard a word? I did not disobey deliberately--I don"t think anything could have induced me to go into that room knowing that he was there. I was taken by surprise, and when he had got hold of my hand I tried in vain to get it free."
"Don"t attempt to excuse yourself, Elsie. You could have escaped from him at once, by simply raising your voice and calling for a.s.sistance.
I do not believe it would have been impossible to avoid even that first embrace; and it fairly makes my blood boil to think he succeeded in giving it to you. How dared you so disobey me as to submit to it?"
"Papa, at the moment I forgot everything but--but just that he was there."
The last words were spoken in a voice scarcely raised above a whisper, while her head drooped lower and lower and her cheek grew hot with shame.
"Did I ever take forgetfulness of my orders as any excuse of disobedience?" he asked in as stern a tone as he had ever used to her.
"No, papa; but oh, don"t be very angry with me!"
"I am exceedingly displeased with you, Elsie! so much so that nothing but your s.e.x saves you from a severe chastis.e.m.e.nt. And I cannot allow you to escape punishment. You must be taught that though no longer a mere child, you are not yet old enough to disobey me with impunity.
Hush!" as she seemed about to speak, "I will not have a word of reply.
Go to your own apartments and consider yourself confined to them till you hear further from me. Stay!" he added as she rose to obey, "when did all this occur?"
She told him in her low, tearful tones, her utterance half choked with sobs.
"Two days ago, and yet your confession has been delayed till now. Does that look like penitence for your fault?"
She explained why she had not returned home at once; but he refused to accept the excuse, and ordered her away as sternly as before.
She obeyed in silence, controlling her feelings by a great effort, until she had gained the privacy of her own apartments, then giving way to a fit of almost hysterical weeping. It was years since her father had been seriously displeased with her, and loving him with such intense affection, his anger and sternness nearly broke her heart.
Her tender conscience p.r.i.c.ked her sorely too, adding greatly to her distress by its reproaches on account of her disobedience and her delay in confessing it.
It came to her mind at length that her heavenly Father might be more tender and forbearing with her, more ready to forgive and restore to favor, than her earthly one. She remembered the sweet words, "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." She went to Him with her sin and sorrow, asking pardon for the past and help for the future. She asked, too, that the anger of her earthly parent might be turned away; that the Lord would dispose him to forgive and love her as before.
She rose from her knees with a heart, though still sad and sorrowful, yet lightened of more than half its load.
But the day was a very long one; with a mind so disturbed she could not settle to any employment, or find amus.e.m.e.nt in anything. She pa.s.sed the time in wandering restlessly from room to room, starting and trembling as now and then she thought she heard her father"s step or voice, then weeping afresh as she found that he did not come near her.
When the dinner-bell rang she hoped he would send, or come to her; but instead he sent her meal to her; such an one as was usual upon their table--both luxurious and abundant,--which comforted her with the hope that he was less displeased with her than at other times when he had allowed her little more than prison fare. But excitement and mental distress had brought on a severe headache; she had no appet.i.te, and sent the food away almost untasted.
It was mild, beautiful weather in the early spring; such weather as makes one feel it a trial to be compelled to stay within doors, and Elsie longed for her favorite retreat in the grounds.
In the afternoon some ladies called; Mr. Dinsmore was out, and she dared not go to the drawing room without permission; but her headache furnished sufficient excuse for declining to see them, and they went away.
Shortly after, she heard her father"s return. He had not been off the estate, or out of sight of the house; he was keeping guard over her, but still did not come near her.
Just at tea-time she again heard the sound of wheels; then her father"s, mother"s, and little brother"s voices.
"Mamma and Horace have come home," she thought with a longing desire to run out and embrace them.
"Oh, papa, has sister come home?" she heard the child"s voice ask in eager tones.
"Yes."
"Oh, then I must run into her room and kiss her!"
"No, you must not; stay here."
"But why mustn"t I go to sister, papa?"
"Because I forbid it."
Every word of the short colloquy reached Elsie"s ear, adding to her grief and dismay. Was she, then, to be separated from all the rest of the family? did her father fear that she would exert a bad influence over Horace, teaching him to be disobedient and wilful? How deeply humbled and ashamed she felt at the thought.
Rose gave her husband a look of surprised, anxious inquiry. "Is Elsie sick, dear?" she asked.
"No, Rose, but she is in disgrace with me," he answered in an undertone, as he led the way into the house.
"Horace, you astonish me! what can she have done to displease you?"
"Come in here; and I will tell you," he said, throwing open the door of his study.
Rose listened in silence, while he repeated to her the substance of Elsie"s confession, mingled with expressions of his own anger and indignation.
"Poor child!" murmured Rose, as he concluded; "Horace, don"t be hard with her; she must have suffered a great deal in these last three days."
"Yes," he answered in a moved tone; "when I think of that, I can scarcely refrain from going to her, taking her in my arms, and lavishing caresses and endearments upon her; but then comes the thought of her allowing that scoundrel to do the same, and I am ready almost to whip her for it." His face flushed hotly, and his dark eyes flashed as he spoke.
"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Rose, half frightened at his vehemence, "you cannot mean it?"
"Rose," he said, pacing to and fro in increasing excitement, "the fellow is a vile wretch, whose very touch I esteem pollution to a sweet, fair, innocent young creature like my daughter. I told her so, and positively forbade her to so much as look at him, or permit him to see her face, if it could be avoided, or to recognize, or hold the slightest communication with him in any way. Yet in defiance of all this, she allows him to take her hand and hold it for, I don"t know how long, put his arm around her waist and kiss her a number of times.
Now what does such disobedience deserve?"
"Had she no excuse to offer?"
"Excuse? Yes, she did not disobey deliberately--was taken by surprise--forgot everything but that he was there."
"Well, my dear," and Rose"s hand was laid affectionately on his arm, while a tender smile played about her mouth, and her sweet blue eyes looked fondly into his. "You know how it is with lovers, if you will only look back a very few years. I think there were times when you and I forgot that there was anybody in the wide world but just our two selves."
A smile, a tender caress, a few very lover-like words, and resuming his gravity and seriousness, Mr. Dinsmore went on: "But you forget the odious character of the man. If I had objected to him from mere prejudice or whim, it would have been a very different thing."