"Margaret, I am a poor coward after all. I cannot bear to give pain. I know so well your mother's married life has not been all she hoped--all she had a right to expect--and this will be such a blow to her, that I have never had the heart, the power to tell her. She must be told though, now," said he, looking wistfully at his daughter. Margaret was almost overpowered with the idea that her mother knew nothing of it all, and yet the affair was so far advanced!

'Margaret, I am a poor coward after all. I cannot bear to give pain. I know your mother's married life has not been all she hoped - and this will be such a blow to her, that I have not had the heart to tell her. She must be told though, now,' said he, looking wistfully at his daughter.
Margaret was almost overpowered with the idea that her mother knew nothing of it.
