Page 1226 - bleak-house

‘If that little creature should fail too, Esther, I still look
forward. I look forward a long while, through years and
years, and think that then, when I am growing old, or when
I am dead perhaps, a beautiful woman, his daughter, hap-
pily married, may be proud of him and a blessing to him. Or
that a generous brave man, as handsome as he used to be,
as hopeful, and far more happy, may walk in the sunshine
with him, honouring his grey head and saying to himself, ‘I
thank God this is my father! Ruined by a fatal inheritance,
and restored through me!’’
Oh, my sweet girl, what a heart was that which beat so
fast against me!
‘These hopes uphold me, my dear Esther, and I know
they will. Though sometimes even they depart from me be-
fore a dread that arises when I look at Richard.’
I tried to cheer my darling, and asked her what it was.
Sobbing and weeping, she replied, ‘That he may not live to
see his child.’

1226 Bleak House