The mystery
of Edward Crown's disappearance was cleared up, and for the first
time in her young life Alix was shorn of the romantic notion that
one day her missing father would appear in the flesh, out of the
silences, to claim her as his own. From earliest childhood, her
imagination had dealt with all manner of dramatic situations; she
had existed in the glamour of uncertainty; she had looked upon
herself as a character worthy of a place in some gripping tale of
romance. The mound of rocks on the crest of Quill's Window, surrounded
by a tall iron paling fence with its padlocked gate, covered only
the body of the mother she had never seen. She did not know until
this enlightening hour that her father was also there and had been
throughout all the years in which fancy played so important a part.
Like all the rest of the world, she was given to understand that
her father had cruelly abandoned her mother. In her soul she had
always cherished the hope that this heartless monster might one
day stand before her, pleading and penitent, only to be turned away
with the scorn he so richly deserved. She even pictured him as rich
and powerful, possessed of everything except the one great boon
which she alone could give him,--a daughter's love. And she would
point to the top of Quill's Window and tell him that he must first
look there for forgiveness,--under the rocks where his broken-hearted
victim slept.
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