d, although wonder lurked in her eye, and repeated
innocently,

"Sure enough, I am the procthor's daughter: bud you don't hate me for
id--do you?

"Come close to me, child, till I look upon you," said Nanny, in a cold
and altered tone of voice; and then, as Minny fearlessly advanced, she
laid her aged hands on her head, and pushing back the profusion of her
curling hair, looked long and anxiously on her. A hot tear fell upon the
child's forehead as she withdrew her hand; and in a broken, voice the
old woman exclaimed,

"You are--you are indeed his child; bud have naither his black look, nor
his hard an' baneful heart--so--so--I cannot hate you! For years I've
never met with kindness, till you wor kind. Minny, heaven 'ill reward;
you for id; an' may its blessin' be wid you, is the prayer ov your
father's bittherest foe!"

At this the child hesitated for an instant, as if she did not comprehend
the latter part of Nanny's sentence; and then innocently taking her
hand, she looked up to her face and said--

"Bud maybe yer too tired to go home now all the ways, Nanny, so iv
you'll come home wid me, I'm sure my father won't be angry, an' will"--

"Go home wid you!" wildly reiterated the old woman, her eyes blazing
so fearfully, that the child shrunk instinctively back--"crass your
father's flure!--inther the man's house who sint my son--my only
son!--my heart's blood!--from his native land, wid disgrace upon
his name, and the heavy hand ov power crushin' him to the earth!
Never!--these eyes, that once could laugh wid happiness, will burn in
their sockets first, and this withered heart, once so warm and joyful,
will burst afore I ever think ov id!"

"Nanny," tremblingly said Minny, "you spake so wild you make me
afeard--I hope I haven't done anything to vex you!"

"You! Oh! no, no--you force me to love you! I couldn't hate you,
although yer father--bud no matther. Minny, good bye--may the Almighty
guard you."

The day passed away as Summer days are wont, in softness and languor,
and the sun descended in gold and crimson, leaving a bright halo in the
west to mark his resting place. Night came on serene and still, and the
quiet moon ascended her heavenly throne, while the refreshing dews fell
upon the flowers, whose leaves opened to receive them, parched, as they
were with the burning lustre of the mid-day sun. Midnight had already
passed; and all was as silent as if no living or created thing existed
upon the earth t