"If cruel it is necessary," said Mr. Dundas.
"But she must need friends about her now more than she ever did," urged
Alick. "Tell me at least where to find her, that I may do what I can to
console her."
Mr. Dundas shook his head. "No," he said sternly, "She is dead to me,
and shall be dead to my friends. She is blotted out from my love, and I
will blot her out from my memory; and no one's persuasions can bring
back what is effaced. Now, my dear boy, let us understand one another. I
have surprised your secret: you love my daughter, and had she been
worthy of you I would have given her to you more willingly than to any
one I know. But she herself has fixed the gulf between us, which I will
not pass nor help any one else to pass. Learn to look on her as dead,
for she is dead to me, to you, to the world."
"Never to me," cried Alick. "While she lives she must be always to me
what she has been from the first day I saw her. Whatever she has done, I
shall always love her as much as I do now."
"You are faithful," replied Sebastian, "but trust me, boy, no woman that
ever lived was worth so much fidelity. I will protect you against your
own wish, and be your friend in spite of yourself. You shall not know
where she is, and you shall not throw yourself away on her. As she has
elected to be effaced, she shall be effaced--blotted out for ever."
"Then I will consecrate my life to finding her," cried Alick warmly.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210