"
"Speak not of them, uncle," Franconia interrupts, "you cannot feel
the bitterness of their lot more than myself. I have saved a mother,
but have failed to execute my plan of saving them; and my heart
throbs with pain when I think that now it is beyond my power. Let me
not attempt to again excite in your bosom feelings which must ever
be harassing, for the evil only can work its destruction. To clip
the poisoning branches and not uproot the succouring trunk, is like
casting pearls into the waste of time. My heart will ever be with
the destinies of those children, my feelings bound in unison with
theirs; our hopes are the same, and if fortune should smile on me in
times to come I will keep my word-I will snatch them from the
devouring element of slavery."
"Stop, my child!" speaks Marston, earnestly: "Remember you can do
little against the strong arm of the law, and still stronger arm of
public opinion. Lay aside your hopes of rescuing those children,
Franconia, and remember that while I am in prison I am the property
of my creditors, subject to their falsely conceived notions of my
affairs," he continues. "I cannot now make amends to the law of
nature," he adds, burying his face in his hand, weeping a child's
tears.
Franconia looks solicitously upon her uncle, as he sorrows. She
would dry her tears to save his throbbing heart. Her noble
generosity and disinterestedness have carried her through many
trials since her marriage, but it fails to nerve her longer.
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