I cannot be
sure what my mother might think, but my father would take her for your
evil genius! It is possible he may refuse to see yourself!"
"Then I'm not going. Better stay here and starve!"
"If so, I must at once tell Amy what you have done. I will not have the
parents on whom you have brought disgrace and misery supposed guilty of
cruelty. Amy must know all about it some day, but it ought to come from
yourself--not from me. You will never be fit for honest company till for
very misery you have told your wife."
Hester thought she must not let him fancy things were going back into
the old grooves--that his crime would become a thing of no consequence,
and pass out of existence, ignored and forgotten. Evil cannot be
destroyed without repentance.
He was silent as one who had nothing to answer.
"So now," said Hester, "will you, or must I, tell Amy that she cannot go
home?"
He thought for a moment.
"I will," he said.
Hester left him and sent Amy to him. In a few minutes she returned. She
had wept, but was now, though looking very sad, quite self-possessed.
"Please, miss," she said--but Hester interrupted her.
Pages:
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592