used by the serpent in beguiling Eve! Well, the wise old adage
means: 'Who marries for love, lives with sorrow.' Ellice made her
choice, and she shall abide by it; and you--being unluckily her
daughter--will share the punishment. If 'fathers WILL eat sour
grapes, the children's teeth MUST be set on edge.' I repudiate all
claims on my parental treasury, save such as I have given to my son
Prince. To every other draft I am bankrupt; but merely as a
gentleman, I will now for the last time, respond to the petition of
a sick woman, whose child is so loyal as to arouse my compassion.
Ellice has asked for one hundred dollars. You shall have it. But
first, tell me why she did not go to the hospital, and submit to the
operation which she says will cure her?"

"Because I could not be with her there, and I will never be
separated from her. The aneurism has grown so alarmingly, that I
became desperate, and having no one to aid us, I reluctantly obeyed
my mother's requirement that I should come here. I could not summon
my brother, because I have no idea where a letter would reach him;
and with no friend--but the God of the friendless--I am before you.
There is one thing I ought to tell you; I have terrible forebodings
of the result of the operation, from which the Doctor encourages her
to hope so much. She will not be able to take anesthetics, at least
not chloroform, because she has a weak heart, and--"

"Yes--a very weak heart! It was never strong enough to hold her to
her duty."

"If you could see her now, I think even your vindictive hatred would
be sufficiently gratified. So wasted, so broken!--and with such a
ceaseless craving for a kind word from you. One night last week pain