to him, and never failed to speak of the growth and increasing
intelligence of Clotelle.

The child had grown so large as to be able to follow its father
on his departure out to the road. But the impression made on
Henry's feelings by the devoted woman and her child was momentary.
His heart had grown hard, and his acts were guided by no fixed principle.
Henry and Gertrude had been married nearly two years before Isabella
knew anything of the event, and it was merely by accident that she
became acquainted with the facts.

One beautiful afternoon, when Isabella and Clotelle were picking
wild strawberries some two miles from their home, and near
the road-side, they observed a one-horse chaise driving past.
The mother turned her face from the carriage not wishing to be
seen by strangers, little dreaming that the chaise contained
Henry and his wife. The child, however, watched the chaise,
and startled her mother by screaming out at the top of her voice,
"Papa! papa!" and clapped her little hands for joy.
The mother turned in haste to look at the strangers, and her eyes
encountered those of Henry's pale and dejected countenance.
Gertrude's eyes were on the child. The swiftness with which Henry
drove by could not hide from his wife the striking resemblance
of the child to himself. The young wife had heard the child
exclaim "Papa! papa!" and she immediately saw by the quivering
of his lips and the agitation depicted in his countenance,
that all was not right.

"Who is that woman? and why did that child call you papa?"
she inquired, with a trembling voice.