to him--but oh! how changed!--in
the trouble of his daughter's face.

"Darling, what is it? Why are you here? Why are you weeping? Dear child,
the friend of my better days--of the boyhood when I had noble aims, and
life was beautiful before me--he has been here! I have seen him. He has
been with me--oh! for a good I cannot tell!"

"Father, dear father!"--he had risen, and sat upon the couch, but she
still knelt before him, weeping, and clasped his hands in hers--"I
thought of you and of this letter, all the time. All last night till I
slept, and then I dreamed you were tearing it to pieces, and trampling
on it. I awoke, and lay thinking of you, and of ----. And I thought I
heard you come down-stairs, and I came here to find you. But you were
lying here so quietly, with your eyes open, and so strange a light on
your face. And I knew--I knew you were dreaming of him, and that you saw
him, for the letter lay beside you. O father! forgive me, but do hear
me! In the name of this day--it's Christmas day, father--in the name of
the time when we must both die--in the name of that time, father, hear
me! That poor woman last night--O father! forgive me, but don't tear
that letter in pieces and trample it under foot! You know what I
mean--you know--you know. Don't tear it, and tread it under foot!"

She clung to him, sobbing violently, her face buried in his hands.

"Hush, hush! It's all well--it's all well. Here, sit by me. So. I
have"--his voice failed him, and he paused. But sitting by him--clinging
to him--her face hidden in his bosom--she heard the strong beating of
his disenchanted heart!

"My child, I know your meaning. I will not tear the letter to pieces and
trample it under foot. God forgive me my life's slight to those words.
But I learned their value last night, in the house where your blank
letter had entered before me."

She started, and looked into his face steadfastly, while a bright
scarlet shot into her own.

"I know all, Netty--all. Your secret was well kept, but it is yours and
mine now. It was well done, darling--well done. Oh! I have been through
strange mysteries of thought and life since that starving woman sat
here! Well--thank God!"

"Father, what have you done?" The flush had failed, but a glad color
still brightened her face, while the tears stood trembling in her eyes.

"All that you wished yesterday," he answered. "And all that you ever
could have wished, henceforth I will do."

"O father!