true fold.
Had she come to you avowedly as the child of sin, with all the father's
and mother's guilt reeking upon her innocent head, could you have
secured to her, my dear Johns, that care and consideration and devotion
which have at last ripened her Christian character, and made her proof
against slander?"

Here the Doctor threw down the letter again, and paced up and down the
room.

"The child of sin! the child of sin! Who could have thought it? Yet does
not Maverick reason true? Does not Beelzebub at time reason true? Adaly!
my poor, poor Adaly!"

"It seemed to me," the letter continued, "that there might possibly be
no need that either you or my poor child should ever know the whole
truth in this matter; and I pray (with your leave) that it maybe kept
from her even now. You will understand, perhaps, from what I have said,
why my visits have been more rare than a fatherly feeling would seem to
demand: to tell truth, I have feared the familiar questionings of her
prattling girlhood. Mature years shrink from perilous inquiry, I think,
with an instinct which does not belong to the freshness of youth.

"But from your ears, in view of the rumors that have come to my hearing,
I could not keep the knowledge longer. I cannot, dear Johns, read your
heart, and say whether or not you will revolt at the idea of any
possible family tie between your son and my poor Adele. But whatever
aspect such possibility may present to your mind, I can regard it only
with horror. If I have deceived you, the deceit shall reach no such
harm as this. Whatever your Christian forgiveness or your love for Adele
(and I know she is capable of winning your love) may suggest, I can
never consent that any stain should be carried upon your family record
by any instrumentality of mine. I must beg, therefore, that, if the
rumor be true, you use all practicable means, even to the use of your
parental authority, in discountenancing and forbidding such intimacy. If
necessary to this end, and Reuben be still resident at the parsonage, I
pray you to place Adele with Mrs. Brindlock, or other proper person,
until such time as I am able to come and take her once more under my own
protection.

"If you were a more worldly man, my dear Johns, I should hope to win
your heartier cooperation in my views by telling you that recent
business misfortunes have placed my whole estate in peril, so that it is
extremely doubtful if Adele will have any ultimate moneyed dep