“I know, my own idolized girl,” he wrote, at the conclusion of his letter, “that I am submitting myself to the imputation of selfishness; but when you reflect upon my past desolate life, and my future, you will pardon, I am sure, this selfishness. I am an old man, Cora; I need kindness, nursing, and love—I pine for a daughter’s care. Many years, have elapsed since your blessed mother’s death; and I might have, with propriety, married again, in order to guard against a lonely old age. Regard for her memory, and for your future prospects, Cora, have deterred me from taking this step. I have submitted willingly to the penance of a solitary life, when I reflected it was for the mental benefit of my daughter, comforting my weary hours by looking forward to the period when we should be again united. Your letters, heretofore, have been filled with affection for me, and a similar desire for this reunion. Come to me, my Cora—come to your old solitary father, who needs your society. Let not a stranger usurp my place in the heart of my only, my idolized child.” Cora shed bitter tears on reading this letter, but her heart was filled with sad reproaches. Her memory reverted to the days of her childhood, when her mother and father watched over her with fondness. She recalled the agonizing moments that followed her mother’s death, when no one was permitted to approach her father but herself. She remembered the intense look of devotion with which he used always to regard her; and then she thought of the solitary, unhappy years that he must have passed while she, with the unthinking spirit of youth, had been seeking happiness for herself, independent of the kind, old, forsaken father, who had no one on earth to love but her. In vain were Harry’s entreaties, or Madame Chalon’s proffers of assistance and interference. She resolved, though with a sad, aching heart, to renounce all expectation of ever marrying Harry, and made preparations for her departure. “Give me some period to look forward to, Cora,” was her lover’s last entreaty. “I cannot, Harry,” she replied, “henceforth I belong only to my father; I never shall marry so long as he lives.” “And will you forget me?” exclaimed her lover, passionately. Tears of reproach started to Cora’s eyes as he asked this angry question, but she refrained from assurances to the contrary. “Forget me, dear Harry,” she said, so soon as she had mastered her emotion. “It will be better for us both; my duty lies in a different path from yours; my heart should go hand in hand with duty.”