r hands, in silence.

"Mildred, come hither," resumed the brutalized parent. "_You_ are my
daughter, and whatever others have promised at the altar, and forgotten,
a law of nature teaches you to obey me. You have two admirers, either of
whom you ought to be glad to secure, though there is a great preference
between them--"

"Father!" exclaimed Mildred, every feeling of her sensitive nature
revolting at this coarse allusion to a connection, and to sentiments,
that she was accustomed to view as among the most sacred and private of
her moral being. "Surely, you cannot mean what you say!"

"Like mother, like child! Let but disobedience and disrespect get
possession of a wife, and they are certain to run through a whole
family, even though there were a dozen children! Harkee, Miss Mildred,
it is _you_ who don't happen to know what you say, while I understand
myself as well as most parents. Your mother would never acquaint you
with what I feel it a duty to put plainly before your judgment; and,
therefore, I expect you to listen as becomes a dutiful and affectionate
child. You can secure either of these young Wychecombes, and either of
them would be a good match for a poor, disgraced, sailing-master's
daughter."

"Father, I shall sink through the floor, if you say another word, in
this cruel manner!"

"No, dear; you'll neither sink nor swim, unless it be by making a bad,
or a good choice. Mr. Thomas Wychecombe is Sir Wycherly's heir, and must
be the next baronet, and possessor of this estate. Of course he is much
the best thing, and you ought to give him a preference."

"Dutton, _can_ you, as a father and a Christian, give such heartless
counsel to your own child!" exclaimed Mrs. Dutton, inexpressibly shocked
at the want of principle, as well as at the want of feeling, discovered
in her husband's advice.

"Mrs. Martha Dutton, I can; and believe the counsel to be any thing but
heartless, too. Do you wish your daughter to be the wife of a miserable
signal-station keeper, when she may become Lady Wychecombe, with a
little prudent management, and the mistress of this capital old house,
and noble estate?"

"Father--father," interrupted Mildred, soothingly, though ready to sink
with shame at the idea of Admiral Bluewater's being an auditor of such a
conversation; "you forget yourself, and overlook my wishes. There is
little probability of Mr. Thomas Wychecombe's ever thinking of me as a
wife--or, indeed of anyone else's en