"While my father lived," murmured Harvey, unable to smother his
feelings, "there was one who read my heart, and oh! what a consolation
to return from my secret marches of danger, and the insults and wrongs
that I suffered, to receive his blessing and his praise; but he is
gone," he continued, stopping and gazing wildly towards the corner that
used to hold the figure of his parent, "and who is there to do
me justice?"
"Why, Harvey! Harvey!"
"Yes, there is one who will, who must know me before I die! Oh! it is
dreadful to die, and leave such a name behind me."
"Don't talk of dying, Harvey," said the spinster, glancing her eye
around the room, and pushing the wood in the fire to obtain a light from
the blaze.
The ebullition of feeling in the peddler was over. It had been excited
by the events of the past day, and a vivid perception of his sufferings.
It was not long, however, that passion maintained an ascendency ever the
reason of this singular man; and perceiving that the night had already
thrown an obscurity around objects without doors, he hastily threw his
pack over his shoulders, and taking Katy kindly by the hand, in
leavetaking,--
"It is painful to part with even you, good woman," he said, "but the
hour has come, and I must go. What is left in the house is yours; to me
it could be of no use, and it may serve to make you more comfortable.
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