Page 71 - RotalTutor

her, a change she liked - and she was not about to give Alexander up now. At first she was angry and determined to confront her father. She would announce that if he was going to send Alexander away, she would leave this place and go back home. But she reconsidered. She had to be careful giving her father an ultimatum, for he might accept it, and she had better be ready to follow through with her threats. Perhaps she should just demand he let Alexander stay. She considered that she was in no position to demand anything. She could not afford to anger her father, risking his reinstatement of the whipping he had intended for Alexander. She contemplated Alexander’s relationship with his parents. Why couldn’t she get along with her parents as he did with his? Then she thought about the difference in how they each treated their parents. Alexander was always respectful and considerate of his parents. He listened to them, and in turn, they listened to him. He never did anything to break their trust in him, and their trust only became stronger. That was it, then. Trust begets trust. Respect begets respect. It was so obvious. But how could she get her father to let Alexander stay? She couldn’t disclose her feelings for Alexander, or her father would send him away for sure. She had to appeal to something else. She never went to sleep at all, but by the time the sun was well on its ascent into the sky, she was on her way to 69