Neville could not hear this appeal without the deepest pain. "Let us forget," he at last said, "these things for a few minutes. They did not arise through me, nor can I prevent them; indeed, they are now beyond all human control. Falkner could as easily restore my mother, whose remains we found mouldering in the grave which he dug for them; he could as easily bring her back to the life and happiness of which he deprived her, as I, my father, or any one, free him from the course of law to which he is made over. We must all abide by the issue--there is no remedy. But you--I would speak of you--" "I cannot speak, cannot think of myself," replied Elizabeth, "except in one way--to think all delays tedious that keep me from my father's side, and prevent me from sharing his wretchedness." "And yet you must not go to him," said Neville; "yours is the scheme of inexperience--but it must not be. How can you share Mr. Falkner's sorrows? you will scarcely be admitted to see him. And how unfit for you is such a scene! You cannot guess what these things are; believe me, they are most unfit for one of your sex and age. I grieve to say in what execration the supposed murderer of my mother is held. You would be subjected to insult, you are alone and unprotected--even your high spirit would be broken by the evils that will gather round you." "I think not," replied Elizabeth; "I cannot believe that my spirit can be broken by injustice, or that it can quail while I perform a duty. It would indeed--spirit and heart would both break--were my conscience burdened with the sin of deserting my father. In prison--amid the hootings of the mob--if for such I am reserved--I shall be safe and well guarded by the approbation of my own mind." "Would that an angel from heaven would descend to guard you!" cried Neville, passionately; "but in this inexplicable world, guilt and innocence are so mingled, that the one reaps the blessings deserved by the other; and the latter sinks beneath the punishment incurred by the former. Else why, removed by birth, space, and time from all natural connexion with the cause of all this misery, are you cast on this evil hour? Were you his daughter, my heart would not rebel--blood calls to blood, and a child's duty is paramount. But you are no child of his; you spring from another race--honour, affection, prosperity await you in your proper sphere. What have you to do with that unhappy man?