[A Perilous Secret by Charles Reade]@TWC D-Link book
A Perilous Secret

CHAPTER III
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He never moved, but folded his arms and said, "So, then, your love for your child is selfish." "Selfish!" cried Hope; "so selfish that I would die for her any hour of the day." For all that, the taunt brought him down a step, and Bartley, still standing like a rock, attacked him again.

"If it is not selfish, it is blind." Then he took two strides, and attacked him with sudden power.
"Who will suffer most if you stand in her light?
Your daughter: why, she may die." Hope groaned.

"Who will profit most if you are wise, and really love her, not like a jealous lover, but like a father?
Why, your daughter: she will be taken out of poverty and want, and carried to sea-breezes and scented meadows; her health and her comfort will be my care; she will fill the gap in my house and in my heart, and will be my heiress when I die." "But she will be lost to me," sighed poor Hope.
"Not so.

You will be my right hand; you will be always about us; you can see her, talk to her, make her love you, do anything but tell her you are her father.

Do this one thing for me, and I will do great things for you and for her.


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