"Dear child," he said at last, "dear child--dear Betsy, I was selfish even to say so much as I did to you--to say so much as even suggested a reproach. But, thank God, I am strong enough to resist the temptation which you put before me. I dare not ask you to change anything that has happened. It has been decreed by Heaven that we are to walk in different ways, and I hope with all my heart that you will have happiness. I asked you just now whence happiness sprang to any one. Dear Betsy, that question has been answered since I heard you speak. Happiness comes by self-sacrifice. Happiness comes to those who seek not their own good, but the good of others. That is why I can hope that you will be happy, my dear one."
"Indeed, that is what is in my heart, Dick," she said. "I feel that I can now do something for the ones I love--for my sisters--for my brothers. Mr. Long is kind and generous. He will, I am assured, help us all. Poor father is obliged to work so hard, and mother is a drudge. I think that little Maria has a nature like mine, and I shall be able to save her from all that I have gone through. And then, and then--well, there is something else to take into account. You can guess what it is, Dick?"
"Yes, I think I know what is on your mind, Betsy," he said. "You have been pestered by suitors, and now you hope that you will have at least a respite."
"A respite!" she cried. "Oh, Dick, I shall be safe for evermore. You do not know what I have suffered. It would seem as if every man who ever heard me sing considered that he had a right to send letters to me--letters full of compliments--and every compliment was an insult to me."
"Why did you not tell me?" he cried, starting up with clenched hands. "Why did you not give me a hint of this? You know that I would have made every rascal among them answer to me with his life for every insult offered to you."
"I know that--that was why I kept everything a secret from you," she said. "The thought that you would be in danger on my account---- Ah, I know that blood has been shed already, and even now I do not feel safe. Captain Mathews--he was the most persistent of my persecutors, and even yet ... he uttered the most terrible threats against me only yesterday. I do not feel secure."