"And should I not be?" was the almost cheerful answer. "Those who
cannot help should at least speak words of comfort."
"Words! They are more than words that you have spoken. They have in
them a substance and a life. But, Fanny, dear child!" he said,
turning to his still grieving daughter--"your tears distress me.
They pain more deeply than rebuking sentences. My folly"--
"Father! exclaimed Fanny--"it is I--not you--that must bear
reproach. A word might have saved all. Weak, erring child that I
was!, Oh! that fatal secret which almost crushed my heart with its
burden! Why did I not listen to the voice of conscience and duty?"
"Let the dead past rest," said Mr. Markland. "Your error was light,
in comparison with mine. Had I guarded the approaches to the
pleasant land, where innocence and peace had their dwelling-place,
the subtle tempter could never have entered. To mourn over the past
but weakens the spirit."
But of all that passed between these principal members of a family
upon whom misfortune had come like a flood, we cannot make a record.
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