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348 that he is a strong-minded boy who suffered from those slanders, when they reached him, simply because he did not know the truth, and who now, knowing the truth, loves both his parents with his clear, candid soul and is no longer in doubt, but knows.”

The old man slowly shook his head with the tall, ivory forehead, while his gnarled hands trembled:

“Henri, you can thank God if your child, whose purity you have put to so severe a test, emerges from that test unstained.”

Van der Welcke was silent, out of respect. He felt himself, notwithstanding his love, so far removed from his father that his heart was wrung and he thought:

“Will Addie ever, ever be so far removed from me? . . .”