276 THE SMUGGLER. 



now discussing, more than once already. She knew it; and 

 of course she doubted ; for those who have been once false are 

 never fully believed, those who have been once deceived are 

 always suspicious of those who have deceived them, even when 

 they speak the truth. As thought and reflection came back 

 after the first shock, Edith found much cause to doubt: she 

 could not see how such a thing was possible, how her refusal 

 of Richard Radford could affect her father's life; and she re- 

 plied, after a time, in a hesitating tone, "How can that be? 

 I do not understand it. I do not see how " 



"I will tell you," replied Sir Robert Croyland, in a low 

 and particularly quiet voice, 'which had something fearful in it 

 to his daughter's ear. "It is a long story, Edith, but you 

 must hear it all, my child. You shall be your father's confidant, 

 his only one. You shall share the secret, dreadful as it is, 

 which has embittered his whole existence, rendered his days 

 terrible, his nights sleepless, his bed a couch of fire." 



Edith trembled in every limb; and Sir Robert, rising, 

 crossed over and opened the door of the drawing-room, to see 

 that there were none of the servants near it. Then closing it 

 again, he returned to her side, and proceeded, holding her 

 hand in his: "You must have remarked," he said, "and per- 

 haps often wondered, my dear child, that Mr. Radford, a man 

 greatly below myself in station, whose manners are repulsive 

 and disagreeable, whose practices I condemn and reprobate, 

 whose notions and principles I abhor, has exercised over me 

 for many years an influence which no other person possesses; 

 that he has induced me to do many things which my better 

 sense and better feelings disapproved; that he has even led me 

 to consent that my best-loved daughter should become the 

 wife of his son, and to urge her to be so at the expense of all 

 her feelings. You have seen all this, Edith, and wondered. 

 Is it not so?" 



"I have, indeed," murmured Edith. " I have been by no 

 means able to account for it." 



" Such will not be the case much longer, Edith," replied 

 Sir Robert Croyland. " I am making my confession, my dear 

 child, and you shall hear all. I must recur, too, to the story 

 of young Layton. You know well that I liked and esteemed 

 him ; and although I was offended, as I j ustly might be, at 

 his conduct towards yourself, and thought fit to show that I 



