How can I ever trust you again ?" She looked penitent.

"I'll be good," she said, as a naughty child might say it.

"I promise--" "To obey as a sailor would obey his captain ?" "Yes," she answered.

"It was stupid of me, I know." "Then you must promise something else," I ventured.
"Readily." "That you will not say, 'Please, please,' too often; for when you do you are sure to override my authority." She laughed with amused appreciation.

She, too, had noticed the power of the repeated "please." "It is a good word--" I began.
"But I must not overwork it," she broke in.
But she laughed weakly, and her head drooped again.