Would that life were but one long summer evening, and your eyes
the only starts in my sky."
"Absurd," she carelessly replied; and then they passed out of
hearing.
"Good-night, Miss Burton," said Mr. Mayhew abruptly; and he hastily
descended the steps and was soon lost from view in the darkness.
His daughter and the man who seemed to be the companion of her
choice, brought back at once the old conditions of his life. The
prison walls closed around him again, the air seemed all the more
foul and stifling in contrast with the pure atmosphere which he had
been breathing, and the gloom of the night was light in comparison
with his thoughts as he muttered:
"If Ida were only like this good angel she might save even me; but
after my long absence she leaves me wholly to myself for the sake
of a man who ought to be an offence to her. If I tell her and
her mother what his reputation in New York is they will not listen
to me. Although he is the known slave of every vice, my daughter
smiles upon him. Froth and mud we are now and ever will be. After
a glimpse into the life of that pure, good woman who has tried to
be God's messenger to me to-night, I can find no words to express
my loathing of the slough in which I and mine have mired.
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