Several weeks elapsed. The appeal was made, and was unsuccessful; the decision of the court below was affirmed; and nothing was left but that the sentence of the law should be enforced. Rust still maintained his indifferent bearing. All attempts to move him to any thing like repentance were unavailing. Pious men had conversed with him, but he had turned a deaf ear to their words; clergymen, too, anxious even at the last hour to turn his thoughts to holier things, had called upon him, but were equally unsuccessful; and at last he forbade them admission.
It was just about dusk, on the day previous to that fixed for his execution, that he was sitting in his cell, when he was aroused by the opening of the door. He looked up, and observed a dim figure just inside the door, cowering as if with fear; but it was so dark that he could not distinguish more than its mere outline.
‘What do you want?’ demanded he, harshly. ‘Am I a wild beast, that you have come to stare at me?’
The only reply was a low, suppressed cry, as of one endeavoring to stifle down severe pain.
Rust rose up, advanced to the figure, and with a sudden jerk threw off the cloak which enveloped it. It was his own child.
‘So it’s you!’ said he, bitterly, as he turned from her. ‘And you’ve [!-- original reads 498 --]come to see your work. Look at me well. You’ve succeeded to your heart’s content.’
The girl endeavored to clasp his hand, but he flung her from him; and facing her, said: ‘What you have to say, say at once, and be gone. There is little policy in seeking me out now, for I have nothing to give.’
The girl cast herself at his feet, in a passion of grief. ‘Oh! father! dear father! I ask nothing, except your forgiveness. Give me that, for the love of God! I ask nothing more. Do not refuse me that, as you hope for forgiveness of your own sins!’
‘There was a time,’ said Rust, ‘when I could not have resisted those tones, when I could have refused you nothing. My very heart’s blood was yours; but I am changed—changed indeed; since not a single spark of tenderness for you is left; not even the shadow of the love which I once bore to you. You are a stranger to me; or worse than that, you are she, whose wanton conduct has placed me here, and to-morrow will lead me to the gallows.’
The girl rose up hastily, and said in a quick husky voice: