I could give him no
money. I never had any--while he believed that I had fourteen
thousand dollars. My heart was nearly broken when I found that he
had conceived the most injurious suspicions against me. Yet I
could not blame him. I could give no account of the treasure I had
permitted him to believe was in my possession. I must suffer the
penalty of my fault, for to undeceive him would be, I felt, to kill
him. I remained silent then, and suffered.
"You know the rest. You now know why it was that I was reluctant
to give you that ingot--why it was that I degraded myself so far as
to ask it back. It was the only means I had of continuing a
deception on which I believed my father's life depended. But that
delusion has been dispelled. I can live this life of hypocrisy no
longer. I cannot exist and hear my father, whom I love so, wither
me daily with his curses. I will undeceive him this very day.
Will you come with me, for I fear the effect on his enfeebled
frame?"
"Willingly," I answered, taking her by the hand; "and I think that
no absolute danger need be apprehended.
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