"I suppose you have some remnant of regard for me, in spite of our old misunderstanding, and that my coming is not quite indifferent to you." "No," the other answered, with a touch of melancholy; "it is not indifferent to me.

I have waited for your return these many years.

You might have found me more tenderly disposed towards you, had you come earlier; but there are some feelings which seem to wear out as a man grows older,--affections that grow paler day by day, like colours fading in the sun.

Still, I am glad to see you once more before I die.

You are my only son, and you must needs he something nearer to me than the rest of the world, in spite of all that I have suffered at your hands." "I could not come back to England sooner than this," the young man said presently.