Mr. Dinsmore glanced over the report and handed it back, saying,
"It is all very good; very satisfactory indeed. I am glad to see
that she is industrious and well behaved, for I wish her to grow
up an intelligent and amiable woman."
Elsie, who was standing near, heard the words, and they sent a
glow of pleasure to her cheeks. She looked up eagerly; but her
father turned and walked away without taking any notice of her,
and the glow of happiness faded, and the soft eyes filled with
tears of wounded feeling.
It was now time for a second report; but alas! the past month had
been a most unfortunate one for the little girl; the weather was
very warm, and she had felt languid and weak, and so much were her
thoughts occupied with the longing desire to gain her father's
love, so depressed were her spirits by her constant failure to do
so, that she often found it impossible to give her mind to her
lessons.
Arthur, too, during much of the time before and since the week of
his imprisonment, had been more than usually annoying, shaking her
chair and jogging her elbow so frequently when she was writing,
that her copy-book presented by no means so good an appearance as
usual; and never had Miss Day made out so poor a report for her.
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