-I can pity and forgive him,--I can talk to him of
my mother, and that will lead him to think of heaven. 'I was sick and in
prison and ye came unto me.' Oh, thus our Saviour said, identifying
himself with the sons of ignominy and sorrow. Go, and if you find his
heart softened by repentance, pour balm and oil into the wounds that sin
has made. Go, and let me follow."

CHAPTER XLI.

"And did you see him, Ernest?" I asked, with trembling eagerness.

"I did, Gabriella. I went to him as your representative, without one
vindictive, bitter feeling. I proffered kindness, forgiveness, and every
comfort the law would permit a condemned criminal to enjoy. They were
rejected fiercely, disdainfully,--he rejected them all."

"Alas! and me, Ernest; does he refuse consolation from me?"

"He will not see you. 'I ask no sympathy,' he cried, in hoarse and
sullen accents. 'I desire no fellowship; alone I have sinned,--alone I
will suffer,--alone I will die.' Weep not, my Gabriella, over this
hardened wretch; I do not believe he is your father; I am more and more
convinced that he is an impostor."

"But he has my mother's miniature; he recognized me from my resemblance
to it; he called me by name; he knew all the circumstances of my
infantine life. I would give worlds to believe your assertion, but the
curse clings to me. He _is_,--he must be my father."

"Mr. Brahan, who knew your father personally, and who is deeply
interested in the disclosures recently made, has visited him also. He
says there is a most extraordinary resemblance; and though seventeen
years of sinful indulgence leave terrible traces on the outward man, he
does not doubt his identity. But I cannot, will not admit it. Think of
him no more, Gabriella; banish him, and every thing connected with this
horrible event, from your mind. In other scenes you will recover from
the shock occasioned by it; and even now the tongue of rumor is busy
with more recent themes. Mr. Brahan will visit him from time to time
and, if possible, learn something of the mystery of his life. Whatever
is learned will be communicated to me. What! weeping still, my
Gabriella?"

"It is dreadful to think of sin and crime in the abstract; but when it
comes before us in the person of a father!"

"No more! no more! Dismiss the subject. Let it be henceforth a dark
dream, forgotten if possible; or if remembered, be it as a dispensation
of Providence, to be borne in silence and submission. Stran