f the child I should say this was she," soliloquized he, as his
wife left the room for one moment, and resuming the subject as she
returned. "Why, Eleanor, how long is it since my father lost his
reason?"

"About four years, I believe," replied Mrs. Halberg.

"And our poor Jane had been twelve years away, and her little one was
born three years after her marriage, and this child is--how old did you
say, wife?"

"I'm sure I don't know, Frank; but what possesses you? Have you any idea
that Jane's child is still living? and if it were so and we should ever
find it out, are you not aware how materially it would affect our own
children's share of their grandfather's property?" said Mrs. Halberg,
blushing for very shame, as she encountered her husband's searching and
grieved eye.

"Eleanor," said he, "my sister was bitterly wronged! God only knows how
and what she suffered, not only from the neglect and desertion of her
kindred; but from the stern pinchings of want. For my own part,"
continued he, leaning his head upon his hand, and sighing deeply, "I
would be willing to forfeit _all_ the inheritance if by that means I
could make some reparation for the cruel past!"

"Well, well, Frank, it can not be helped now! Since it is all over, why
not let it go without troubling yourself with vain regrets?"

"Those are not vain regrets, Eleanor," said the husband, "which purify
the soul. My father has been spared the agony of remorse for the one
great error of his life, by a merciful Providence which has made the sad
past oblivious to him; but my heart would be hardened indeed, if it
should cease to feel an intense sorrow for the wrongs committed against
the patient and sainted one."

Mrs. Halberg was touched by her husband's unfeigned grief. He had never
spoken so fully to her before, on a subject which, by common consent,
all the family had avoided, and she knew not until now how weighty had
been the burden of his secret repinings. Before the world he was
unbending and reserved; but now as he sat in the solitude of his
chamber, with only his wife's eye upon him, save that of the Omniscient,
the proud man yielded to a long pent-up emotion, and wept like a child.
"Eleanor," said he, as he felt the tears from other eyes mingling with
his own, "tell me that if it is ever in our power to make restitution
for the sins of other years, you will aid me with all your power, even
if it were to our own pecuniary loss?"

The wife placed