"But it is such a simple thing. And so natural. Just moving to music, that is all. Soldiers love to march to the drum, children prance to the music of the band. It is human nature." "My dear, if you want to move to music, let Zee here go up and down town beating a drum for you, and you march your little head off." Rosalie joined the laughter. "I like the other kind better. Then you truly think it is--dangerous, or wrong, or unwise, or something?" "I have never danced myself, dear." "Stand up here, and let me show you. Now, you go this way. One, two, three; one, two, three; skippity, skip, skip; one, two, three--and that is all there is to it." "Simple, isn't it?" "Perfectly simple. Now is that wrong?" "Well, Rosalie, I tell you frankly, as man to man, if I were young and had a soft shoulder like yours against my arm, and a pretty face like yours very close to my lips--I should probably be tempted to kiss it." "Oh, father," cried Rosalie, joining the burst of laughter. "You would not do it, surely." "Not in public, no. And I may add, if I had a pretty hand like yours in mine, I should probably squeeze it, and if I had my arm around your waist like this--I'd probably squeeze that, too." Merry laughter greeted the admission. Then in the silence that followed he said slowly. "There are many things I could do, Rosalie, that would do me no harm, and others no harm. But would I get pleasure enough out of the doing to make it worth my while? Suppose even one person should say, 'He is a vain and worldly man, I do not wish to go to him in my trouble.' If one person should say that of me, I would consider I had paid too big a price for the little amusement. It may be one of the things we give in return for the badge of the ministry, my dear--I, for one, am willing to give it. It is the one big talent of our profession--the talent of giving up." Rosalie looked at him steadily. "And I believe that any one who is not willing to exercise that talent does not fit into a manse." Rosalie swallowed hard. "I--I do fit, father--I want to. I--I could never be happy any place in the world--outside the manse." Then she added brightly, "So I must never dance any more?" "Ask the General," he hedged quickly. "She is the head of the family." "Well, General, speak up, how about it?" "What a naughty Problem you are," said the General tenderly. "Well, then, if it is up to me, I say this: Father has put it to you squarely. And I know this, Rosalie, that when anything is put squarely on your own shoulders, you straighten up and carry it without flinching. You are old enough to solve your own troubles. This is yours--find the answer for yourself."