'He may feel some compassion for you' (she said), 'though he feels none for me: try him.' I had a few shillings, the last pitiful remains of my wages, in my pocket; and I was not far from London.

But I never went near my father: child as I was, I would have starved and died rather than go to him.

I had loved my mother dearly; and I hated the man who had turned his back on her when she lay on her deathbed.

It made no difference to Me that he happened to be my father.
"Does this confession revolt you?
You look at me, Mr.Holmcroft, as if it did.
"Think a little, sir.

Does what I have just said condemn me as a heartless creature, even in my earliest years?
What is a father to a child--when the child has never sat on his knee, and never had a kiss or a present from him?
If we had met in the street, we should not have known each other.