im: "Ye shall go like the Indians, but be not inhospitable to
your successors, and leave them your benediction, that the great bay and
its rivers may be splendid with ships and men, though ye are perished
forever." A perception of the energy of his countrymen, and a pride in
it, without any mean reservation, though it might involve his personal
humiliation, was Judge Custis's only remaining claim to heaven's
magnanimity. Still, rich in human nature, he was beloved by his daughter
with all her soul.

He awoke long after noon, in body refreshed, and a glass of milk and a
plover broiled on toast were ready for him to eat, with some sprigs of
new celery from the garden to feed his nerves. He made this small meal
silently, and Vesta said, as the tray was removed:

"Now, papa, before we leave this room, you are to tell me the whole
injury you have suffered, and what all of us can do to assist you; for
if you had succeeded the reward would have been ours, and we must divide
the pains of your misfortune with you without any regret. Courage, papa!
and let me understand it."

The Judge feebly looked at Vesta, then searched his mind with his eyes
downcast, and finally spoke:

"My child, I am the victim of good intentions and self-enjoyment. I am
less than a scoundrel and worse than a fool. I am a fraud, and you must
be made to see it, for I fear you have been proud of me."

"Oh, father, I have!" said Vesta, with an instant's convulsion. "You
were my God."

"Let us throw away idolatry, my darling. It is the first of all the
sins. How loud speaks the first commandment to us this moment: 'Thou
shalt have no other gods before me'?"

"I have broken it," sobbed Vesta, "I loved you more than my Creator."

"Vesta," spoke the Judge, "you are the only thing of value in all my
house. The work of nature in you is all that survives the long edifice
of our pride. The treasure of your beauty and love still makes me rich
to thieves, who lie in ambush all around us. We are in danger, we are
pursued. O God! pity, pity the pure in heart!"

As the Judge, under his strong earnestness, so rare in him of late,
threw wide his arms, and raised his brow in agony, Vesta felt her
idolatry come back. He was so grand, standing there in his unaffected
pain and helplessness, that he seemed to her some manly Prometheus, who
had worked with fire and iron, to the exasperation of the jealous gods.
Admiration dried her tears, and she forgot her father's ref