There was no pity in his countenance--the dark lines in his face seemed fixed in their most iron mould; and briefly announcing to his trembling pupil that the time allowed him for consideration had expired, he asked whether he were prepared to acknowledge his fault.

Louis meekly persisted in his denial, which had only the effect of making the doctor consider him a more hardened offender; and after a few words, expressing the strongest reprehension of his wickedness and cowardice, he gave him severe caning, and sent him immediately to bed, although it was but the middle of the day.
In spite of the better feelings which urged poor Louis to acknowledge the justice, under the circumstances, of his master's proceedings, he could not help thinking that he had been very hardly treated.

He hurried up stairs, glad to indulge his grief in silence.

How many times, in the affliction of the next few hours, did he repeat a little hymn he had learned at home: "Thy lambs, dear Shepherd, that are weak, Are thy peculiar care; 'Tis Thine in judgment to afflict, And Thine in love to spare.
"Though young in years, yet, oh! how oft Have I a rebel been; My punishment, O Lord, is mild, Nor equals all my sin.
"Since all the chastisements I feel Are from Thy love alone, Let not one murmuring thought arise, But may Thy will be done.
"Then let me blush with holy shame, And mourn before my Lord, That I have lived to Thee no more, No more obeyed Thy word." -- "Hymns for Sunday-Schools" At last he fell asleep, and oh! to wake; from that sleep! It was surely good to be afflicted, and in the happiness of his mind Louis forgot his trouble.

But he had yet to endure much more, and the bitterest part of his punishment came the next morning, when, according to his master's orders, he repaired to the study with his books.