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Mr Pryor," the child had said But, of course, the rest was all a

funny an

to frown Old Chester: Where had she heard of Old Chester? Then she

re? Yes; that was his

na He said he had come from Old Chester And he had

spoken of somebody--noas it? Oh, yes, Richie; Mrs Richie And

once last spring when her father went to Mercer he said he was going

to Old Chester; yet now he said he had never heard of the place--Why!

it almost seemed as if she had blundered upon a secret! Her uneasy

sust; not because the

nature of the secret occurred to her, but because secrecy in itself

was repugnant to her, as it is to all nobler minds She said to

herself, quickly, that her father had forgotten Old Chester, that was

all Of course, he had forgotten it!--or else--She did not allow

herself to reach the alternative which his confusion so inevitably

suggested:--secrecy, protected by a lie In the recoil froed into remorse for a suspicion which she had not even

entertained Truth was socreature, that even the

shadow of an untruth gave her a sense of uneasiness which she could

not banish She looked furtively at her father, sorting out some

papers, his lips compressed, his eyebrows drawn into a heavy frown,

and assured herself that she was a wicked girl to have wondered, even

for a minute, whether he was perfectly frank He! Her ideal of every

virtue! And besides, why should he not be frank? It was absurd as well

as wicked to have that uneasy feeling "I am ashamed of myself!" she

declared hotly, and took up her novel