"You see the whole train of circumstances renders it impossible that Hadley should not be the one to whom the letter was addressed. I found it just in the place where he was in the habit of coming, a spot that no one else frequented, and so secluded as to forbid the idea of a casual passenger dropping it. Beside, where is there another person of the same name?" "I frankly own there is a mystery connected with the subject which I cannot explain, but that mystery does not convince me of Hadley's guilt." "What incredulity! What stronger evidence do you want to convict him?" "I desire positive assurance that the letter was actually written to and for him; at present I do not believe that it was." "Love is truly blind!" "Love?" "Yes." "What has that to do with the case under consideration?" "It is not worth while for you to disguise the fact that you have loved Hadley; I know that you do or did, and your own heart knows full well how much it has suffered through that love. Alas, that I, your own father, should have caused you so much anguish!" "Does my father really say that?" "Yes, Eveline, and much more. If you only knew how deeply I have suffered, what anguish I endured, as your fevered and broken exclamations fell upon my ear while watching by your bedside, I think you could find it in your heart to forgive me for the unintentional wrong, it was my misfortune, and not my wish, to inflict upon you." "Father, I have wronged you," said she, leaning forward and winding her arms about his neck. "Forgive me for accusing you of cruelty and unkindness in my thoughts." "You had cause for such accusation, though it was farthest from my thoughts to injure you. I did, however, once think of forcing you to wed Duffel, and this is the only real wrong I meditated against you, and I was persuaded it was for your good; but I see differently now--you shall never be coerced into a union with any man against your will." "Thank you for that assurance; it relieves me from one source of disquiet." "I am entitled to no thanks; it is not a parent's prerogative to use violence in such cases, though I once held differently. And let me here say to you, that in all I have done my _motives_ were pure. I desired your good above all else, and that I was endeavoring to procure happiness for you in the wrong way was only an error of judgment, the incorrectness of which I now see clearly." "How much I have misunderstood you, and how much you have misconceived your own heart." "True; the world, and the opinions of worldly men, had almost buried up the good that was in me; but the light of Heaven has shone into my spirit, the fog is dispelled, and I see where I have departed from the right way." "Thank Heaven for that!" "I hope, now that we understand each other, I may dare to make a request of you, which you may or may not feel free to grant." "Name it."