I want an adviser and a friend, and know not where to find
one."
"Surely, Edward, my father is your sincere friend, and not a bad
adviser."
"I grant it; but the question is between your father and me, and I can
not advise with him for that reason."
"Then advise with me, Edward, if it is not a secret of such moment
that it is not to be trusted to a woman; at all events it will be the
advice of a sincere friend; you will give me credit for that."
"Yes, and for much more; for I think I shall have good advice, and
will therefore accept your offer. I feel, Patience, that although I
was justified, on my first acquaintance with your father, in not
making known to him a secret of some importance, yet now that he has
put such implicit confidence, in me, I am doing him and myself an
injustice in not making the communication--that is, as far as
confidence in him is concerned. I consider that he has a right to know
all, and yet I feel that it would be prudent on my part that he should
not know all, as the knowledge might implicate him with those with
whom he is at present allied. A secret sometimes is dangerous; and if
your father could not say that on his honor he knew not of the secret,
it might harm him if the secret became afterward known.
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