sees in you
the innocent cause of his misfortunes. Dear children, you must not
therefore despair. If you have enough command over yourselves, not to
torture him by the display of too warm a tenderness, if you can mingle
some reserve with your affection, you will greatly alleviate his sorrow.
Keep these letters a secret from every one, even from good Dagobert, who
loves you so much; otherwise, both he and you, your father, and the
unknown friend who is writing to you, will be exposed to the utmost
peril, for your enemies are indeed formidable. Courage and hope! May your
father's tenderness be once more free from sorrow and regret!--That happy
day is perhaps not so far distant. Burn this letter like all the others!"

The above note was written with so much cunning that, even supposing the
orphans had communicated it to their father or Dagobert, it would at the
worst have been considered a strange, intrusive proceeding, but almost
excusable from the spirit in which it was conceived. Nothing could have
been contrived with more perfidious art, if we consider the cruel
perplexity in which Marshal Simon was struggling between the fear of
again leaving his children and the shame of neglecting what he considered
a sacred duty. All the tenderness, all the susceptibility of heart which
distinguished the orphans, had been called into play by these diabolical
counsels, and the sisters soon perceived that their presence was in fact
both sweet and painful to their father; for sometimes he felt himself
incapable of leaving them, and sometimes the thought of a neglected duty
spread a cloud of sadness over his brow. Hence the poor twins could not
fail to value the fatal meaning of the anonymous letters they received.
They were persuaded that, from some mysterious motive, which they were
unable to penetrate, their presence was often importunate and even
painful to their father. Hence the growing sadness of Rose and
Blanche--hence the sort of fear and reserve which restrained the
expression of their filial tenderness. A most painful situation for the
marshal, who deceived by inexplicable appearances, mistook, in his turn,
their manner of indifference to him--and so, with breaking heart, and
bitter grief upon his face, often abruptly quitted his children to
conceal his tears!

And the desponding orphans said to each other: "We are the cause of our
father's grief. It is our presence which makes him so unhappy."

The reader may new judge wh