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102 What have I done to be so shut out from human affection and sympathy?"

Almost for the first time since his brother's disclosure, she found no comfort in thinking of Evelyn. Never had the chances of their re-union seemed so precarious; never before had she felt so hopeless. Unfortunate as she had hitherto been, how could she believe that destiny would yet relent? She unlocked the casket which contained her mother's picture, and gazed even more earnestly than usual on that beautiful face; its frank, glad smile was too painful; it seemed an omen of all that could make a joyous and beloved existence; and yet how had her's terminated! The memory of what others have suffered makes us tremble for ourselves. Her peculiar course had never seemed so difficult as it did now, on the very verge of its termination. What would be her father's reception? Perhaps, all old love forgotten, he would look upon her but as an intruder from an unwelcome past, recalling all he wished to forget—all that he had forgotten. Could she bear to wring from him a cold acknowledgment, dictated but by justice! And yet affection, could it spring up at a moment's warning! How could he love a stranger who for attraction brought before him the