is she!" he cried, hoarsely; and despite the curious throng
about him, the old doctor burst into tears and wept like a child.

He felt that some explanation was due, and in a broken, husky voice he
said, pointing to a small, irregular mark over the girl's chest:

"I have been searching for her for sixteen years by night and by day,
and finally abandoned all hope of finding her. She--she is not a
relative, as you may suppose. A few words will explain:

"Some sixteen years ago I had a beautiful ward, as fair a young girl as
ever the sun shone on, and I, a lonely old man who had outlived all his
kinsfolk, loved her with all the devotion of my heart.

"She was happy enough in my home--aye, as happy as the day was long,
but, like many another young girl, the bitter trial of life came with
her first dream of love. She fell in love with a scoundrel. I knew the
man better than she, and refused my consent. But young girls are
willful, and the upshot of the whole matter was--she eloped with him. It
was the most terrible blow of my life. Two years went by, in which I
neither saw nor heard of her. Then unexpectedly I received a short,
hastily written letter from my heart-broken Alice.

"'When you read this I shall be no more,' she wrote. 'Oh, Doctor Bryan,
I have paid the penalty of my folly with my life. I am slowly dying of
starvation. For myself, I bow to the fate I have brought upon my own
head. But the result of my folly does not rest here. It falls upon the
head of an innocent little babe whom I must leave behind me. Oh, Doctor
Bryan, this is the prayer that in the last moments of my life I make to
you:

"'Plead with the little one's father to let her come to
you. If he keeps her, may God in heaven pity her
future. He will blast her life as he did mine, or--if
it suits his pleasure, he will abandon her on the
streets to starve, as I am doing now. If I could think
that she would be with you, I would die without this
heavy load on my heart. She is so fair and
beautiful--my poor little baby! She has only one
blemish--the same scar is upon her bosom that is upon
mine, and which I have heard you say was upon the bosom
of my mother--the birthmark of the three spears.

"'I can not write any more. My hand trembles so that I
can scarcely hold the pen.

"'Good-bye, Doctor Bryan. Never forget your poor,
heart-broken A