return that evening. He had been seen on the road leading to
the house of a relative who was in rather poor circumstances Henry felt
rather annoyed at his father's absence; he had no depth in his
affection, but he had been accustomed to see him and hear his voice
every day, and therefore he missed him, but consoled himself with the
thought that they would soon meet again, as it never entered his
imagination that his father had quitted the house for a lengthened
period. Mrs. Lawson felicitated herself on the event, and hoped that the
old man would remain some time with his relative.

The following day a letter was handed to Henry; it was from his father,
and was as follows:

"TO MY SON HENRY--I have at last come to the resolution of
quitting your house, which I can no longer call mine, in even
the least degree. For weeks--for months--ever since you
married--ever since your wife took upon herself what she calls
the management of your house and purse, I have felt bound down
under the weight of an oppressive bondage. I could not go and
take a pound or a shilling from our common stock, as I used to
do before you married, when you and I lived in one mind, and
when I believed that the very spirit of your departed, your
angel mother, dwelt in you, as you had, and have still, her
very face and form. No, no, we had no common stock when you
married. She put me on an allowance--ay, an allowance. You
lived, and saw me receiving an allowance; you whom I loved with
an idolatry which God has now punished; you to whom I freely
gave up my business--my money-making business. I gave it you--I
gave all to you--I would have given my very life and soul to
you, because I thought that with your mother's own face you had
her noble and generous nature. You were kind before you
married; but that marriage has proved your weakness and want of
natural affection. Yes, you stood at my side yesterday; you
looked on my face--I, the father who loved you beyond all
bounds of fatherly love--you stood and heard me beg for a few
shillings; you heard me supplicate earnestly and humbly, and
you would not give, because your wife was not willing. Henry, I
could force you to give me a share of the profits of your
business; but keep it--keep it all. You would not voluntarily
give me some shillings, and I shall not demand what rig