"You are an odd girl to rise so early when you might just as well indulge in a morning nap," she said.
"I don't find it difficult if I have gotten to bed in good season the night before," said Mildred gayly, "I have been trained to it from childhood; my father being a firm believer in the old adage,
"Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,"
and it is really very pleasant after one is fairly up and dressed."
"Yes; and I dare say we would all be the better for it if we would follow your example," said Mr. Dinsmore.
"You are altogether mistaken as far as I am concerned," remarked his wife pettishly, "my best sleep is in the morning."
"I suppose people differ about that as well as in the amount of sleep they require," observed Mildred, "some needing eight hours, while others can do quite as well with only four."
"Yes," admitted her uncle, "constitutions differ, and I have no idea of asking my wife to give up her morning nap. There is a possibility of carrying the thing to an extreme. Remember that, Miss Milly," he added, playfully, "and don't let that sensitive conscience of yours force you up at unchristian hours."
"And how am I to decide what are such, sir?" she asked, laughing.
Mildred laid herself out that day for her aunt's entertainment, and with a success that restored her almost entirely to favor; at least, for the time being.
The following day there was a slight abatement in the storm, and some gentlemen called.
One, a young man who had been her escort on several occasions, and whom Mildred liked very much as a friend, inquired particularly for her.
He had come with an invitation to a public ball to be given a week later by a military club of which he was a member, and to ask that he might be her escort thither.
He seemed much disappointed, and pressed for her reasons.
"I have several, Mr. Landreth," she said, coloring slightly, but meeting his eye unflinchingly; "I find that late hours injure my health; that is one; another is that I have been brought up to consider it wrong to attend balls."
"Why more so than going to the theatre?" he asked.
"It is true; I have been several times, but that was very wrong in me, and I do not intend to go again," Mildred said, humbly, yet firmly, though the color deepened on her cheek and her voice trembled slightly.