"You are right, my son."
"The rooms over ours in our wing," said Celestine, finishing her
husband's sentence.
"I am in your way, my dears?" said the Baron, with the mildness of a
man who has judged himself. "But do not be uneasy as to the future;
you will have no further cause for complaint of your father; you will
not see him till the time when you need no longer blush for him."
He went up to Hortense and kissed her brow. He opened his arms to his
son, who rushed into his embrace, guessing his father's purpose. The
Baron signed to Lisbeth, who came to him, and he kissed her forehead.
Then he went to his room, whither Adeline followed him in an agony of
dread.
"My brother was quite right, Adeline," he said, holding her hand. "I
am unworthy of my home life. I dared not bless my children, who have
behaved so nobly, but in my heart; tell them that I could only venture
to kiss them; for the blessing of a bad man, a father who has been an
assassin and the scourge of his family instead of its protector and
its glory, might bring evil on them; but assure them that I shall
bless them every day.--As to you, God alone, for He is Almighty, can
ever reward you according to your merits!--I can only ask your
forgiveness!" and he knelt at her feet, taking her hands and wetting
them with his tears.
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