ped that, of course, it
_couldn't_ be true, this wonderful thing that was happening?

"I've dreamed of you--a hundred times," I stammered. "Waking
dreams--sleeping dreams. They've seemed as real--almost as real--as
this."

"Did I kiss you like this, in the dreams?"

"Sometimes. But not in the realest ones. It never seemed real that you
could care, in spite of all--that you'd forgive me, if you should come
back----"

"Did you want me to come?"

"Oh, 'want' isn't the word to express it!"

"Even though you dreaded--being found out!"

"That didn't count, against having you alive, and knowing you were in
the world--if only for your parents' sake. I wanted them to be happy,
more than I wanted anything for myself except Brian's good. I had you
for my own, in my dreams, while you were dead, and I expected to lose
you if you were alive. But----"

"You really expected that?"

"Oh, indeed, yes!"

"Although you knew from Mother how I'd loved you, and searched for you?"

"You thought I was _good_--then."

"I think so now."

"But you can't! You know what a wicked, wicked wretch I was! Why, when
you came into this room and looked at me, I _saw_ how you felt! And your
letter----"

"Don't you understand, I was testing you? If you hadn't cared for me,
what you did might have been--(only 'might', mind you, for what man can
judge a girl's heart?) what you did to my people _might_ have been cruel
and calculating. I had to find out the truth of things, before letting
myself go. The letter was written to let a stranger see--if you turned
out to be a stranger--what to expect. But O'Farrell made me sure in a
minute, that the girl here must be _my_ Girl. After that, I'd only to
see you--to ask if he told the truth--to watch your face--your precious,
beautiful face! I thought of it and pictured it. But I never thought of
those tears! Forgive me, my darling, for making them come. If you'll let
me love you all your life, they shall be the last I'll ever cause."

I laughed, and cried a little more, at the same time. "What a word from
you to me--'Forgive'!"

"Well, it's more suitable than from you to me, because there's nothing
you could do that I wouldn't forgive before you did it, or even be sure
it was just the one right thing to do. My Girl--my lost, found love--do
you suppose it was of your own accord you came to my people and said you
belonged to me? No. It was the Great Power that's in us all, which made
you do what you d