Mysteries of Paris, V3 by Eugène Sue
page 377 of 592 (63%)
page 377 of 592 (63%)
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to her. Why have I not done that? Why? Ah! because one only does good by
halves; because one only values treasures when they have disappeared forever: because instead of raising at once to her true level this admirable young girl, who, in spite of misery and abandonment, was, through her mind and heart, greater, nobler, perhaps, than she ever would have been by the advantages of birth and education. I thought I was doing much for her by placing her at a farm with some good people, as I would for the first interesting beggar that I met in the streets. It is my fault--it is my fault. If I had done that she would not have been dead. Oh! yes, I am punished--I have deserved it--bad son, bad father!" Murphy knew that such grief was inconsolable, and remained silent. "I shall not remain here--Paris is hateful to me; to-morrow I go--" "You are right, my lord." "We will stop at the farm of Bouqueval. I will shut myself up for some hours in her chamber, where she passed the only happy days of her life. I will have collected with religious care all that belonged to her--the books she commenced to read; the paper she had written on; the clothes she has worn--all, even to the furniture--even to the tapestry of her rooms, of which I myself will take an exact delineation. And at Gerolstein, in the private park where I have raised a monument to the memory of my outraged father, I will have a small house built, in which shall be rebuilt _this_ room; there I will go to weep for my daughter. Of these two funeral monuments, one will recall my crime to my father, the other the chastisement which reached me through my child. Thus, then, let everything be prepared to-morrow morning." |
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