pied with
your supposed mother, and I must say you have been a devoted daughter,
that you have hardly noted our excitement and interest. The confession
established the facts beyond a doubt in our minds, but we were not sure
how the father would take it. And the place has altered immeasurably;
there have been so many accidents since, that that has passed into
oblivion. But no one can dispute the proof. Your mother was a noticeably
handsome girl; but there is a curious resemblance, and it grows upon
one."

"And I am scarcely handsome at all," the girl said, slowly.

"Have you no curiosity to know whom you belong to?" studying Lilian
intently.

"Oh, I dare not ask, I hardly dare believe! It is so mysterious. She,
yes, I will call her mother, though there might be a father somewhere.
And was that beautiful woman they believed dying----"

Lilian clasped her hands over her eyes. Like a flash it seemed to pass
before her. Zay Crawford's double, some of the girls had called her.

"Oh," she cried, "can I endure it? What if they do not want me?"

"If they had doubted the story it would have been kept from you. Can you
guess--"

Lilian flung herself in Mrs. Barrington's arms, with a long, dry sob.

"Oh, do not give me up," she cried imploringly. "Let me stay with you. I
will serve you faithfully for I love you, and these people are
strangers----"

"Think, what it must be after her years of sorrow to clasp her child in
her arms; to know that it had been well cared for, tenderly loved. Oh,
she is your own mother and you will come to love her dearly. This
morning Dr. Kendricks was to tell Major Crawford the story. Fifteen
minutes ago word came that they would be here. Lilian, your father feels
hard toward Mrs. Boyd. You know Dr. Kendricks would have recognized you
if she had not taken you away, and it is only natural that he should
feel indignant."

"Must I see him before she--she cannot last long. Oh, she must not hear
this, and I will not leave her until the very last."

Then the child suggested her father.

"There they come," exclaimed Mrs. Barrington.

The two men entered the drawing room. Lilian clung to Mrs. Barrington,
but that lady impelled her forward.

"This is your daughter, Major Crawford," she said, "and this, my dear,
is your own father."

Lilian stood like a statue. It was as if she was turning to stone. Oh,
he could not deny her. The clear cut features, the golden bronze hair,
the proud figure that