"You must go to your room and rest, or you will be ill."
"Oh! not if I am sure he will never dare to claim me as his child.
Oh, Mr. Palma! that possibility has almost driven me wild."
"Dismiss it as you would some hideous nightmare. Go to sleep and dream of your mother, and of——"
He bit his lip to check the rash words, and too much agitated to observe his changed manner, she asked:
"Where is he now?"
"No matter where. He is so completely in my power, that he can trouble us no more."
She clasped her hands joyfully, but the tears fell faster, and looking at her mother's picture, she exclaimed:
"Have mercy upon me, Mr. Palma! Tell me—do you know—whom I am? Do you really know beyond doubt who was—or is—my father?"
"This much I can tell you, I know your father's name; but just now I am forbidden by your mother to disclose it, even to you. Come to your room."
He raised her from the chair, and as she stood before him, it was pitiable to witness the agonized entreaty in her pallid but beautiful face.