"Yes, Norton. I loved him; he was my only relative. That he might live near me was the last forlorn hope of my life. Before you condemn me, remember how few people exist in this world for me to love. I have no friends. I was so cold, so dreary! There was nothing left to me but your child and this one brother. How could I part with either of them? That was to be utterly alone!"
Lord Hope checked this pathetic plea. It shook his resolution, and that with a vigor she could not understand. He looked her steadily in the face.
"Rachael Closs, could you have given up my child to that man?"
Rachael fixed her wild eyes on the face turned upon her so sternly.
"Why, why?"
"Had you no thought of the ruin it would bring upon her?"
"Ruin? Did you say ruin?"
"Could you see that innocent girl's hand in his without thrills of painful recollection?"
"Why, he loves her; she loves him."
"So much the more painful."