"They all agree that he was close to her when she fell, and neither he nor she denies that he pushed her; she only begs not to be forced to speak, and he says nothing.
"And now, father, I have fully made up my mind that either that boy must be sent away to school, or I must take Elsie and make a home for her elsewhere." "Why, Horace! that is a sudden resolution, is it not ?" "No, father, not so much as it seems.

I have suspected, for some time past, that Elsie had a good deal to bear from Arthur and Enna--to say nothing of an older person, to whom Enna is continually carrying tales.
Elsie is too generous to tell tales, too meek and patient to complain, and so it has been only very gradually that I have learned how much of petulance, tyranny, and injustice she has had to endure from those from whom she certainly had a right to expect common kindness, if not affection.
"Yesterday afternoon she came to me in such a state of nervous excitement as convinced me that something had gone very much amiss with her, but what it was I did not know, for she seemed unwilling to tell, and I would not force her to do so.
"However, by putting a few questions to some of the little guests, I have since learned enough to fill me with indignation at the treatment to which my child has been subjected, even during the last two weeks; and now the occurrences of this afternoon have put the finishing stroke to all this, and I cannot any longer feel that my child is safe where Arthur is.

It is a great mercy that she escaped being killed or crippled for life," and he dropped his face into his hands and shuddered.
"Don't, Horace, my son," his father said kindly, laying his hand on his shoulder.

"I don't like to see you give way so.

It is not worth while troubling ourselves about what _might_ have been, and we will take measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.
"But you mustn't think of leaving us to set up a separate establishment, unless you are intending to marry again, and I don't believe you are." Mr.Dinsmore shook his head.
"Nothing of the kind," he said; "but I must protect my child; she has no one else to look to for protection, or sympathy, or love--my poor little one!--and it would be hard indeed if she could not have them from me." "So it would, Horace, certainly.