“Well, it was hard work to draw him out, but finally he told me he had received a letter from the East, which made him think he would have to leave us. That isn’t the worst.”
All were breathless, afraid to give utterance to the dread that until then was vague and indistinct in their minds.
“He thinks he must take his daughter Nellie with him.”
“What! Take her away from us? That can never be allowed.”
None felt the anguish of the announcement keener than the man who made it, but he looked calmly into the angry faces and said:
“You forget, my friends, that she is his child and he has the moral and legal right to do what he thinks is best for her.”
“But where are our rights?” demanded Wade Ruggles; “they mustn’t be forgot.”
“We haven’t any,––not a single one. But I am satisfied that one cause of Dawson’s distress of mind is the very question you have asked. He can never cease to be deeply grateful to all of us for what we have done for him and his child. He doesn’t wish to take her away for it will be as painful to her as to us. But friends,” continued the parson, with a sense of right that was creditable to him, “Dawson’s first duty is to his child. She is now twelve years old, quite a large girl and is growing fast. She has never seen girl or woman since she was brought here; she will soon be a young woman; she requires association with others of 97 her own sex; her welfare demands this; her education and proper training can never be obtained in this mining settlement.”
“Eddycation!” exclaimed Vose Adams; “what have you been doing with her all this time? She must be as far along in her studies and eddycation as me and Ruggles.”