His thoughts were
most with his son, and ever as he thought of Dick, his fury waxed
against the woman who had enmeshed the boy in her plotting for
vengeance on himself. And into his thoughts now crept a doubt,
one that alarmed his sense of justice. It occurred to him that
this woman could not have thus nourished a plan for retribution
through the years unless, indeed, she had been insane, even as he
had claimed--or innocent! The idea was appalling. He could not
bear to admit the possibility of having been the involuntary
inflicter of such wrong as to send the girl to prison for an
offense she had not committed. He rejected the suggestion, but
it persisted. He knew the clean, wholesome nature of his son.
It seemed to him incredible that the boy could have thus given
his heart to one altogether undeserving. A horrible suspicion
that he had misjudged Mary Turner crept into his brain, and would
not out. He fought it with all the strength of him, and that was
much, but ever it abode there. He turned for comfort to the
things Burke had said.
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