t use could it be for him to remain there in
concealment?

In this dilemma there was but one expedient. "Suffer me, said Alonzo to
Melissa, to remove you from this solitary confinement. Your health is
impaired. To you, your father is no more a father; he has steeled his
bosom to paternal affection; he has banished you from his house, placed
you under the tyranny of others, and confined you in a lonely, desolate
dwelling, far from the sweets of society; and this only because you
cannot heedlessly renounce a most solemn contract, formed under his eye,
and sanctioned by his immediate consent and approbation. Pardon me,
Melissa, I would not censure your father; but permit me to say, that
after such treatment, you are absolved from implicit obedience to his
rigorous, cruel, and stern commands.--It will therefore be considered a
duty you owe to your preservation, if you suffer me to remove you from
the tyrannical severity with which you are oppressed."

Melissa sighed, wiping a tear which fell from her eye. "Unqualified
obedience to my parents, said she, I have ever considered the first of
duties, and have religiously practised thereon----but where, Alonzo,
would you remove me?" "To any place you shall appoint," he answered.
"I have no where to go," she replied.

"If you will allow me to name the place, said he, I will mention Mr.
Simpson's. He will espouse your cause and be a father to you, and, if
conciliation is possible, will reconcile you to your father. This can be
done without my being known to have any agency in the business. It can
seem as if Mr. Simpson had found you out. He will go any just lengths to
serve us. It was his desire, if you could be found, to have you brought
to his house. There you can remain either in secret or openly, as you
shall choose. Be governed by me in this, Melissa, and in all things I
will obey you thereafter. I will then submit to the future events of
fate; but I cannot Melissa--I cannot leave you in this doleful place."

Melissa arose and walked the room in extreme agitation. What could she
do? She had, indeed, determined to leave the house, for reasons which
Alonzo knew nothing of. But should she leave it in the way she had
proposed, she was not sure but she would be immediately remanded back,
more strictly guarded, and more severely treated. To continue there,
under existing circumstances, would be impossible, long to exist. She
therefore came to a determination--"I will go, she said