He said to the sobbing girl
that she was not of his blood; that she was nothing to him by natural
ties; that his covenant was with her grandsire to care for his
offspring; and though it had been poorly kept, it might be breaking it
worse than ever to turn her out upon ever so kind a world.
"I have tried to be good to you all these years. When I took you, a wee
little baby, I took you for better or worse. I intended to do well by
you all your childhood-days, and to do best at last. I thought surely we
should be living well by this time, and you could choose from a world
full of homes and a world full of friends.
"I don't see how I missed it!" Here he paused a moment in meditation,
and presently resumed with some suddenness:
"I thought that education, far better than Mother Nativity has given
you, should have afforded your sweet charms a noble setting; that good
mothers and sisters would be wanting to count you into their families,
and that the blossom of a happy womanhood would open perfect and full of
sweetness.
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