She leaned her head against my arm and raised her eyes appealingly.
"Have you seen my papa ?" she asked, timidly.

"Will he come back soon ?" For a moment I did not answer her.

Ferrari took it upon himself to reply roughly.

"Don't talk nonsense, baby! You know your papa has gone away--you were too naughty for him, and he will never come back again.
He has gone to a place where there are no tiresome little girls to tease him." Thoughtless and cruel words! I at once understood the secret grief that weighed on the child's mind.

Whenever she was fretful or petulant, they evidently impressed it upon her that her father had left her because of her naughtiness.