"Does my father really say that?"

"Yes, Eveline, and much more. If you only knew how deeply I have suffered,
what anguish I endured, as your fevered and broken exclamations fell upon
my ear while watching by your bedside, I think you could find it in your
heart to forgive me for the unintentional wrong, it was my misfortune, and
not my wish, to inflict upon you."

"Father, I have wronged you," said she, leaning forward and winding her
arms about his neck. "Forgive me for accusing you of cruelty and unkindness
in my thoughts."

"You had cause for such accusation, though it was farthest from my thoughts
to injure you. I did, however, once think of forcing you to wed Duffel, and
this is the only real wrong I meditated against you, and I was persuaded it
was for your good; but I see differently now--you shall never be coerced
into a union with any man against your will."

"Thank you for that assurance; it relieves me from one source of disquiet."

"I am entitled to no thanks; it is not a parent's prerogative to use
violence in such cases, though I once held differently. And let me here say
to you, that in all I have done my _motives_ were pure. I desired your good
above all else, and that I was endeavoring to procure happiness for you in
the wrong way was only an error of judgment, the incorrectness of which I
now see clearly."

"How much I have misunderstood you, and how much you have misconceived your
own heart."