I won't do so again." "We won't stop to talk about it now," Elsie said, answering for Violet and herself; "your clothes must be changed instantly, for you are as wet as if you had been in the sea; and that with fresh water, so that there is great danger of your taking cold." "I should think the best plan would be for her to be rubbed with a coarse towel till reaction sets in fully and then put directly to bed," said Mrs.Dinsmore.

"If that is done we may hope to find her as well in the morning as if she had not had this exposure to the storm." Lulu made no objection nor resistance, being only too glad to escape so easily.

Still she was not quite sure that some punishment might not be in store for her on the morrow.

And she had an uncomfortable impression that were it not for her father's absence it might not be a very light one.
When she was snugly in bed, Grandma Elsie came to her, bringing with her own hands a great tumbler of hot lemonade.
"Drink this, Lulu," she said, in her own sweet voice and with a loving look that made the little girl heartily ashamed of having given so much trouble and anxiety; "it will be very good for you, I think, as well as palatable." "Thank you, ma'am," Lulu said, tasting it; "it is delicious, so strong of both lemon and sugar." "I am glad you like it; drink it all if you can," Elsie said.
When Lulu had drained the tumbler it was carried away by Agnes, and Grandma Elsie, sitting down beside the bed, asked, "Are you sleepy, my child?
If you are we will defer our talk till to-morrow morning; if not, we will have it now." "I'm not sleepy," Lulu answered, blushing and averting her face, adding to herself, "I suppose it's got to come, and I'd rather have it over." "You know, my child, that in the absence of your father and mine you are my care and I am responsible for you, while you are accountable to me for your good or bad behavior.

Such being the case, it is now my duty to ask you to give an account of your whereabouts and doings in the hours that you were absent from us this evening." Lulu replied by an exact statement of the truth, pleading in excuse for her escapade her father's permission to stroll about the beach, even alone, her enjoyment of the exercise of walking along the bluff, and her absorbing interest in the changing beauty of sky and sea--all which tended to render her oblivious of time and space, so that on being suddenly reminded of them she found herself much farther from home than she had supposed.
"Was it not merely within certain limits you were given permission to ramble about the beach ?" Elsie asked gently.
"Yes, ma'am; papa said I was not to go far, and I did not intend to; indeed, indeed, Grandma Elsie, I had not the least intention of disobeying, but forgot everything in the pleasure of the walk and the beautiful sights." "Do you think that is sufficient excuse, and ought to be accepted as fully exonerating you from blame in regard to this matter ?" "I don't think people can help forgetting sometimes," Lulu replied, a trifle sullenly.
"I remember that in dealing with me as a child my father would never take forgetfulness of his orders as any excuse for disobedience; and though it seemed hard then, I have since thought he was right, because the forgetfulness is almost always the result of not having deemed the matter of sufficient importance to duly charge the memory with it.
"In the Bible God both warns us against forgetting and bids us remember: "'Remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them.' "'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' "'Beware lest thou forget the Lord.' "'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.' "You see that God does not accept forgetfulness as a sufficient excuse, or any excuse for sin." "Then you won't, of course," muttered Lulu, carefully avoiding looking into the kind face bending over her; "how am I to be punished?
I don't feel as if anybody has a _right_ to punish me but papa," she added, with a flash of indignant anger.
"I heartily wish he were here to attend to it," was the response, in a kindly pitying tone.