a deep, agonised breath:

"I suppose you have meant to be just to me, I wish you might have
dealt more mercifully with my mother. As for what you have done to
me--well--if she was illegally my mother, I had rather be her
illegitimate son than the son of any woman who ever lived within
the law. Now may I have her letters?"

"Is that your decision, Berkley?"

"It is. I want only her letters from you--and any little
keepsakes--relics--if there be any----"

"I offer to recognise you as my son."

"I decline--believing that you mean to be just--and perhaps
kind--God knows what you do mean by disinterring the dead for a son
to look back upon----"

"Could I have offered you what I offer, otherwise?"

"Man! Man! _You_ have nothing to offer _me_! Your silence was
the only kindness you could have done me! You have killed
something in me. I don't know what, yet--but I think it was the
best part of me."

"Berkley, do you suppose that I have entered upon this matter
lightly?"

Berkley laughed, showing his teeth. "No. It was your damned