he crime;
and if he had been taken he would have been sent to jail. I would have
died then sooner than let him be taken to jail."

"If I had only known this from the beginning!" said Canon Pascal.

"What would you have done?" asked Phebe eagerly. "Would you have refused
to take Felix into your home? He has done no wrong. Hilda has done no
wrong. There would have been disgrace and shame for them if their father
had been sent to jail; but his death saved them from all danger of that.
Nobody would ever speak a word against Roland Sefton now. Yet this is
what is preying on Felicita's mind. If she was sure you knew all, and
still consented to Felix marrying Alice, she would be at peace again.
And I too think you ought to know all. But you-will not visit the sins
of the father upon the son----"

"Divine providence does so," he interrupted; "if the fathers eat sour
grapes the teeth of the sons are set on edge. Phebe, Phebe, that is only
too true."

"But Roland's death set the children free from the curse," answered
Phebe, weeping. "If he had been taken, they would have gone away to some
foreign land where they were not known; or even if he had not died, we
must have done differently from what we have done. But there is no one
now to bring this condemnation against them. Even old Mr. Clifford has
more than forgiven Roland; and if possible would have the time back
again, that he might act so as to reinstate him in his position. No one
in the world bears a grudge against Roland."

"I'm not hard-hearted, God knows," he answered, "but no man likes to
give his child to the son of a felon, convicted or unconvicted."

"Then I have done harm by telling you."

"No, no; you have done rightly," he replied, "it was good for me to know
the truth. We will let things be for awhile. And yet," he added, his
grave, stern face softening a little, "if it would be good for Felicita,
tell her that I know all, and that after a battle or two with myself, I
am sure to yield. I could not see Alice unhappy; and that lad holds her
heart in his hands. After all, she too must bear her part in the sins of
the world."

But though Phebe watched for an opportunity for telling Felicita what
she had done, no chance came. If Felicita had been reserved before, she
inclosed herself in almost unbroken silence now. During her illness she
had been on the verge of delirium; and then she had shut her lips with a
stern determination, which even her weak and fever