10 THE FATTED CALF. 



" No, sir," said Dorothy (that was before young 

 people were taught never to say ' sir ' to anybody) 

 " I assure you I wouldn't have told those stories; 

 tortures couldn't have drawn them from me ! " 



The Prodigal felt thirty feet tall. Dorothy's 

 smile made his heart leap. It was like Words- 

 worth's rainbow in its effect. 



" But," said Dorothy, growing stern all of a 

 sudden, " I expect to be rewarded for my good- 

 ness. I've got you in my power now, and you 

 must do my bidding to the death ! " (She looked 

 straight through him with her round eyes.) " And 

 I greatly fear you'll fail of your quest ; and if you 

 do fail, then you're no true knight ! " (Dimpling 

 again, her pretty cheeks coming up ever so little 

 to make her eyes dance and sparkle.) "Wretched 

 swain," (very serious again, pausing, with tight- 

 closed lips), " I command you to confess all your 

 manifold sins and wickednesses — yes, every one 

 of them. Every jolly wrong thing you did while 

 you served as cabin boy on the dear old Swift, 

 and if the sins you confess aren't as picturesque as 

 those you committed in New Bedford before you 

 turned whaleman, then " (a majestic toss of 

 the head that set the ringlets caressing her 

 pink cheeks again) " I'll refuse to grant you 

 forgiveness ! " 



