"Regina, it is about time you should meet and recognize me."
The voice explained all; she knew the man whom Hannah bad met in the churchyard on the evening of the storm.
She made an effort to shake off his hand, but it closed firmly upon her, and he asked:
"Do you know who I am?"
"Your name is Peleg, and you are a wicked man, an enemy of my mother."
"The same, I do not deny it. But recollect I am also your father."
She stared almost wildly at him, and her face blanched and quivered as she uttered a cry of horror.
"It is false! You are not—you never could have been! You—Oh! never—never!"
So terrible was the thought that she staggered, and sank down on an iron seat, covering her face with her hands.
"This comes of separating father and child, and rising you above your proper place in the world. Your mother taught you to hate me, I knew she would; but I have waited as long as I can bear it, and I intend to assert my rights. Who do you suppose is your father? Whose child did she say you were?"