never dreamed of her deception. And to this day, he knows nothing of
it, for I have never told him any of my trials and sorrows, since
the day he struck me that undeserved blow. I love my father
tenderly, and yet I cannot, dare not, unfold to his blinded vision
the facts that have so long been concealed from him. No, Lizzie, I
would rather suffer on as I must do, than darken his life by such a
discovery.

"Thus you see something of how the years passed on. I, a helpless,
ill-used orphan, growing older and and stronger day by day, and yet
morally weaker and weaker, with no will or power of resistance, till
I wonder sometimes that I am not an imbecile indeed.

"I thank the great God for my school-days. They have been days of
pleasure and benefit to me. They have taken me from that home where
I withered as the dew withers before the glaring sun, and cast me
among pleasant friends, who seem to love me, and at least are true
and kind. True and kind! Dear Lizzie, you cannot comprehend the
significance of that expression. To my starved, wretched heart,
these words are the fulness of all speech. I comprehend their
meaning, and regard them as I do the burning stars afar, shining
dimly upon a darkened world.

"Yes; again I say, I thank the great God for these school-days, that
led me to know you, Lizzie--you, to whom my heart has learned to turn
as a wounded, helpless bird would turn to its mother's sheltering
wing for safety and protection."

Touched by Leah's story, and her protestations of love, Lizzie bowed
her head in her hands, and a few tears fell through the slender