ms to
me like the voice of my little child; and some day I shall follow her
into the dark, cold waves, and be at rest with my darling whose tiny
hands beckon me down to death in the cold, watery depths whose waves are
glinted by the golden light of the flickering stars."

Dorothy scarcely breathed, so intense was her effort to restrain herself
until the other had finished.

In fewer words than we can explain it she had flung her arms about the
stranger's neck and breathed out to her the startling story of that
never-to-be-forgotten night when she had rescued from the waves the
child this poor young mother was describing.

"Oh, take me to my child!" she cried. "Now--now! Let not an instant's
time elapse. Every moment is precious. I can not wait--I can not!"

Then Dorothy had her own story to tell: that she dared not return to
Jack Garner's home, where she had left little Pearl; and she told her
the whole story from beginning to end. Then came another revelation:

"Jack Garner is my husband's partner!" the strange lady cried. "Come
back with me, and leave it to me to fully establish your innocence of
the atrocious crime of which they believe you guilty.

"We have never visited at each other's homes, strangely enough, because
of some slight disagreement in the firm at the very time Mr. Garner was
taken in.

"Come and talk it over with my husband. We will do whatever he decides."

Oh, the great rejoicing in the old stone mansion! The horses were
hitched up without an instant's delay, and driven like mad into the
city, arriving at the Garner mansion just as the clock was striking
twelve.

The old servant who answered the loud peal of the bell was shocked at
the sight of the beautiful lady who rushed past him in the corridor,
crying out: "Oh, for the love of Heaven, bring quickly to me the baby
whom you call Pearl!"

Dorothy and the lady's husband followed.

The great disturbance awoke Jack Garner. He heard the scurrying of feet
past his door. They stopped at the next room, where the little abandoned
babe was sleeping.

The next instant a great, wild, happy cry rent the air, which the
angels must have heard and wept rejoicingly over; and he heard the
joyful cry:

"Yes; it is my child--my own little, lost child!"

Robing himself hurriedly, Jack quickly opened the door; but his partner
was standing there, and thrust him back.

Jack knew of the loss of the little one, and his partner explained to
him how myst