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and noble
and lovely my young mother was! that her ladyship may know once for
all Nora Worth was not"--Ishmael covered his face with his hands, and
caught his breath, and continued--"not, as she said, 'the shame of her
own sex and the scorn of ours'; that her son is not 'the child of sin,' nor
'his heritage dishonor!'" And Ishmael dropped his stately head upon his
desk, and sobbed aloud; sobbed until all his athletic form shook with
the storm of his great agony.
Herman Brudenell gazed at him--appalled. Then, rising, he laid his
hand on the young man's shoulder, saying:
"Ishmael! Ishmael! don't do so! Calm yourself, my son; oh, my dear
son, calm yourself!"

He might as well have spoken to a tempest. Sobs still shook Ishmael's
whole frame.
"Oh, Heaven! oh, Heaven! Would to the Lord I had never been born!"
cried Herman Brudenell, in a voice of such utter woe that Ishmael
raised his head and struggled hard to subdue the storm of passion that
was raging in his bosom. "Or would that I had died the day I met Nora,
and before I had entailed all this anguish on you!" continued Herman
Brudenell, amid groans and sighs.
"Don't say so, my father! don't say so! You were not in fault. You were
as blameless as she herself was; and you could not have been more so,"
said Ishmael, wiping his fevered brow, and looking up.
"My generous son! But did Claudia--did Lady Vincent use the cruel
words you have quoted, against your mother and yourself?"
"She did, my father. Oh, but I have suffered!" exclaimed Ishmael, with
shaking voice and quivering features.
"I know you have; I know it, Ishmael; but you have grandly, gloriously
conquered suffering," said Mr. Brudenell, with enthusiasm.
"Not quite conquered it yet; but I shall endeavor to do so," replied the
young man, who had now quite regained his self-possession.
And another pause fell between them.
Ishmael leaned his head upon his hand and reflected deeply for a few
moments. Then, raising his head, he said:
"My father, for her sake, our relationship must remain a secret from all
the world, with the few exceptions of those intimate friends to whom
you can explain the circumstances, and even to them it must be
imparted in confidence. You will tell Lady Vincent, that her ladyship
may know how false were the calumnies she permitted herself to repeat;
and Judge Merlin and Mr. Middleton, whose kindness has entitled them
to the confidence, for their own satisfaction."
"And no one else, Ishmael?"
"No one else in the world, my father. I myself will tell Uncle Reuben.
And in public, my father, we must be discreet in our intercourse with
each other. Forgive me if I speak in too dictatorial a manner; I speak for
lips that are dumb in death. I speak as my dead mother's advocate," said
Ishmael, with a strange blending of meekness and firmness in his tone
and manner.
"And her advocate shall be heard and heeded, hard as his mandate

seems. But, ah! I am an old and broken man, Ishmael. I had hoped, in
time, to claim you as my son, and solace my age in your bright youth. I
am grievously disappointed. Oh! would to Heaven I had taken charge
of you in your infancy, and then you would not disclaim me now!"
sighed Mr. Brudenell.
"I do not disclaim you, father. I only deprecate the publicity that might
wound my mother's memory. And you are not old and broken, my
father. How can you be--at forty-three? You are in the sunny summer
noon of your life. But you are harassed and ill in mind and body; and
you are very morbid and sensitive. You shun society, form no new ties
with your fellow-creatures, and brood over that old sad tragedy long
passed. Think no more of it, father; its wounds are long since healed in
every heart but yours; my mother has been in heaven these many years;
as long as I have been on earth; my birthday here was her birthday
there! Therefore, brood no more over that sad time; it is forever past
and gone. Think of your young love as much as you please; but think of
her in heaven. It is not well to think forever of the Crucifixion and
never of the Ascension; forever of the martyrdom that was but for a
moment, and never of the glory that is from everlasting to everlasting.
Nora was martyred; her martyrdom was as the grief of a moment; but
she has ascended and her happiness is eternal in the heavens. Think of
her so. And rouse yourself. Wake to the duties and pleasures of life.
Look around upon and enjoy the beauty of the