"Yes, Bert."
"Don't you receive letters from father?"
"If I should, it would draw attention to him, and might imperil his safety."
"I might meet him sometime, and not know him."
"Have you no recollection of him?"
"Not the least? Haven't you any picture of him, mother?"
"Yes, I have a daguerreotype upstairs—an old-style picture."
"Why have you never shown it to me?"
"Because it would have led you to ask questions which would have been embarrassing for me to answer. You might have mentioned the existence of the picture before some visitor, and compelled me to produce it. Suppose this had been the case, and it had been recognized, it might have got your father into trouble."
"Now that I know all the circumstances, won't you show me the picture, mother?"