She made no answer; only hid her face on his breast and wept silently.
"Papa," she murmured at length. "I--I do so want to break one of your
rules; oh, if you would only let me, just this once!"

"A strange request, my darling," he said, "but which of them is it?"

"That when you have once decided a matter I must never ask you to
reconsider. Oh, papa, do, do let me entreat you just this once!"

"I think it will be useless, daughter, only giving me the pain of
refusing, and you of being refused; but you may say on."

"Papa, it is, that I may write a little note to--to Mr. Egerton," she
said, speaking eagerly and rapidly, yet half trembling at her own
temerity the while, "just to tell him that I cannot do anything
against your will, and that he must not come near me or try to hold
any sort of intercourse with me till you give consent; but that I
have not lost my faith in him, and if he is innocent and unjustly
suspected, we need not be wretched and despairing; for God will surely
some day cause it to be made apparent. Oh, papa, may I not? Please,
please let me! I will bring it to you when written, and there shall
not be one word in it that you do not approve." She had lifted her
face, and the soft, beseeching eyes were looking pleadingly into his.

"My dearest child," he said, "it is hard to refuse you, but I cannot
allow it. There, there! do not cry so bitterly; every tear I see you
shed sends a pang to my heart. Listen to me, daughter. Believing what
I do of that man, I would not for a great deal have him in possession
of a single line of your writing. Have you ever given him one?"