"I have done wrong; and you must forgive me, and forget it.

You are not in the least to blame.

It is I who ought to have known that you could never think of me as any thing but a father." "Oh! it is not that," sobbed Mercy, vehemently,--"it is not that at all! But it wouldn't be right." Parson Dorrance would not have been human if Mercy's vehement "It is not that,--it is not that!" had not fallen on his ear gratefully, and made hope stir in his heart again.

But her evident grief was too great for the hope to last a moment.
"You may not know why it seems so wrong to you, dear child," he continued; "but that is the real reason.

There could be no other." He paused.