“Do you know what you are saying?  Are you speaking the truth?”

“Yes, before Heaven, it is the truth, and the horror of it has haunted me day and night; the thought of it has driven me nearly mad, but I dared not breathe it to any living human being.”

“You have told no one else what you have just told me?”

“No, I dared not.”

He asked a few more questions which she answered, and from her manner he was convinced that she spoke the truth.  Then he sat for a moment silent, his head bowed, his eyes covered, lost in thought, while strangely commingled emotions surged within his breast.

At last she broke the silence.  “It will help you — what I have told you — will it not?”

“It is of inestimable value to me,” he answered, but instead of exultation, there was a strange sadness in his voice.

“You will let me help you, and you will be a son to me, will you not?”

He looked at her with an expression of mingled pity and bitterness, and then, without replying, lifted her gently but firmly and reseated her, while he himself remained standing at a little distance.  She watched him anxiously.

“Harold,” at last she ventured, “think what I have suffered, and do not refuse my one prayer.”

“I can see that you have suffered,” he answered, gently; “and, as I have told you, I will help you pecuniarily and will befriend you, only do not ask me that which I cannot give.”

“I ask nothing more,” she exclaimed, passionately, rising to her feet, “than that you be a son to me, and I will accept nothing less.”

“I am sorry to hear you say that,” he replied, “for you are only unnecessarily depriving yourself of many benefits that might be yours.  I would provide a home for you where you would be unknown, and means that you could spend the remainder of your life in comfort.”

“What would I care for any home or wealth that you might provide for me,” she demanded, angrily, “if you yourself would not acknowledge me as your mother!  I will accept nothing from you under such conditions.”

“Then we may as well end this conference,” he replied, calmly, “for I hold my father in too deep love and reverence ever to permit of my applying to you the sacred name of ‘Mother.’”

Her eyes flashed at the mention of his father, and she was about to speak, but he lifted his hand warningly.  “Hush!” he commanded; “not one word shall you speak against him in my presence!  Before I go, I will give you an opportunity to reconsider your declaration of a moment ago.”

“I will not reconsider it.  You are like every Mainwaring that I have ever known, in that you think money and shelter, such as you might fling at some superannuated servant, will take the place of the true position and honor that are my due.”

“Do you then, finally and once for all, refuse any and all offers of assistance from me?” he asked.