"If he finds me out it will be so dreadful; but I don't think he will dare to do so."
"No," Joyce said; "he will hide away from us knowing that suspicion, at least, must have fastened on him."
"Dear madam, I wonder you have ever been able to bear to have me near you. His daughter!—his daughter!"
"I thought we had settled long ago, Susan, that your services to me and mine, and your love for the children, must always win my gratitude and——"
"Dear madam, I know how good you are. I know how you took me out of the lowest depths of misery, just as no one else would have done. But if I am to bring trouble on you by staying here, if he, my father, is to bring more trouble on you, I would rather run away and hide myself, and never look upon your face again."
"Do not say so, Susan; let us trust in God, and He will protect us. Your father, if he recognised me, which I doubt, is very unlikely to come forward when a serious charge might be brought against him. It was a great shock at first for me to see him; but let us dismiss it from our minds now, and do not let us speak of it to anyone but Mr. Arundel. Certainly not to Mrs. Falconer."
"Very well, dear madam, I will do all you desire me," Susan said, and clasping little Joy in her arms, she turned away.
