of it. To a piteous plea to remain and enjoy the old man's wealth, he
turned the deafest of ears. Business required his presence at home;
where business commanded, he obeyed; and that was the long and the short
of that. _He_ didn't propose to set up a museum of deformities, if the
daughter did; or stay to witness a burlesque on the society he was
brought up in, were she never so dutiful.

Oh, the misery of this reality! When shall I forget the anguish on that
cadaverous face, when the terror of the narration? For nineteen years he
had patiently plodded on, despised by the rich, hated by the poor,
spurned by both. He had driven hard bargains that she might drive her
carriage; he had turned his wretched debtors houseless into the streets
that she might be covered. With every spark of love in his heart, with
every instinct of tenderness in his soul, he had bowed down and
worshiped her. She had him all: he would set to work anew, were it
needful, for her sake; he would go in rags for her; he would starve for
her; and this was his reward!--his happiness filched from him by a
whipster of a day's acquaintance!

When two people, like the frogs of Æsop, conclude to plunge down a well
for the waters of happiness, it is generally the "weaker vessel" who
dallies. Let no one suppose our Eurydice quitted the blissful innocence
of nymphhood without a struggle, or coolly deserted her battered old
father without a regret.

With all the golden halo that hung about the future, there were walks
taken in those gardens in which the claw-like hands and tapering fingers
clutched each other very tightly, and there were sudden bursts of
emotion when the cadaverous cheeks were well-nigh smothered with kisses.
If you or I had had an interview with the pillow that adorned her