"Ahem! let me put on my thinking cap,"
assuming an air of comic gravity. "Ah! yes, I have it! your
miniature, little one, of course; what could please him better?"
"Oh! yes," cried Elsie, clapping her hands, "that will do nicely;
why didn't I think of it? Thank you, auntie. But then," she added,
her countenance falling, "how can I get it taken without his
knowledge? you know the surprise is half the fun."
"Never mind, my dear, I'll find a way to manage that," replied
Adelaide, confidently; "so just run away with you now, and see how
much money you can scrape together to spend on it."
"It won't take long to count it," Elsie said with a merry laugh.
"But here is papa just coming in at the door; I hope he won't
suspect what we have been talking about," and she bounded away to
meet him and claim the kiss he never refused her now.
Once Adelaide would not have been surprised at Elsie's quietness.
Patient and sweet tempered the little girl had always been, but
more especially after her father's return from Europe--very quiet
and timid, seeming to shrink from observation, with a constant
dread of incurring reproof or punishment; but the last few happy
months, during which her father had continued to lavish upon her
every proof of the tenderest affection, had wrought a great change
in her; her manner had lost its timidity, she moved about the
house with a light and joyous step, and it was no unusual thing to
hear her merry, silvery laugh ring out, or her sweet voice
carolling like some wild bird of the wood--the natural outgushings
of her joy and thankfulness; for the little heart that had so long
been famishing for love, that had often grown so weary and sick in
its hungering and thirsting for it, was now fully satisfied, and
revelled in its new-found happiness.
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