I, you see, in an hour of recklessness did a wrong thing; to hide it I had to do further wrong, till it grew to a mountain which fell on me and crushed me.

Now, I am the most miserable of men and I might perhaps have been the happiest.

I have spoilt my own life by my own folly, weakness, and guilt; and I have lost Paula, who is dearer to me than all the other creatures on earth put together.

Yes, Mary, if she had been mine, your poor uncle would have been the most enviable fellow in the world, and he might have been a fine fellow, too, a man of great achievements.

But as it is!--Well, what is done cannot be undone! Now go to bed child; you cannot understand it all till you are older." "Oh I understand it already and much better perhaps than you suppose," cried the ten years' old child.