One a toddling wee thing, with a scarlet cloak that swept the ground, and a hood of the same warm tint drawn over her curly yellow hair and dimpled round face, had fallen on the walk, unheeded by her boisterous companions, and becoming entangled in the long garment could not get up again. Pausing to lift the little creature to her feet, and restore the piece of cake that had escaped from the chubby hand, Regina stood smiling sympathetically at the sport of the larger children, and wondering whether all those rosy-cheeked "olive branches" clustered around one household altar. At that moment a heavy hand was placed on her shoulder, and turning she saw at her side a powerful man, thick set in stature, and whose clothing was worn and soiled. Beneath a battered hat drawn suspiciously low she discerned a swarthy, flushed, saturnine countenance, which had perhaps once been attractive, before the seal of intemperance marred and stained its lineament. Somewhere she certainly had seen that dark face, and a sensation of vague terror seized her. "Regina, it is about time you should meet and recognize me." The voice explained all; she knew the man whom Hannah bad met in the churchyard on the evening of the storm. She made an effort to shake off his hand, but it closed firmly upon her, and he asked: "Do you know who I am?" "Your name is Peleg, and you are a wicked man, an enemy of my mother." "The same, I do not deny it. But recollect I am also your father." She stared almost wildly at him, and her face blanched and quivered as she uttered a cry of horror. "It is false! You are not--you never could have been! You--Oh! never--never!" So terrible was the thought that she staggered, and sank down on an iron seat, covering her face with her hands. "This comes of separating father and child, and rising you above your proper place in the world. Your mother taught you to hate me, I knew she would; but I have waited as long as I can bear it, and I intend to assert my rights. Who do you suppose is your father? Whose child did she say you were?" "She never told me, but I know--O God, have mercy upon me! You cannot be my father! It would kill me to believe it!" She shuddered violently, and when he attempted to put his hand on hers, she drew back and cried out, almost fiercely: "Don't touch me! If you dare, I will scream for a policeman." "Very well, as soon as you please, and when he comes I will explain to him that you arc my daughter; and if necessary I will carry you both to the spot where you were born, and prove the fact. Do you know where you were born? I guess Minnie did not see fit to tell you that, either. Well, in was in that charity hospital on ---- Street, and I can tell you the year, and the day of the month. My child, you might at least pity, and not insult your poor unhappy father."