her breathing. The truth was slowly dawning upon her. How well
she knew the story of the kidnapped children! How often had her own
heart bled for the tender mother, spending endless days in vain
mourning! She saw Governor Vandecar stand, saw him sway a little, and
then turn toward the door.

"Governor, Governor!" she called tremulously, "I feel as if I were going
to faint. Oh, can't you see it all? Where is Mrs. Vandecar?"

"Stay, Ann, stay! Wait! Boy, have you ever had any reason to believe
that you were not the son of Lon Cronk?" Through fear of making a
mistake, he had asked this question. He knew that, should he plant false
hope in the timid mother he had shielded for years, she would be unable
to bear it.

"Nope," replied Floyd wonderingly; "only that he hated me and Flea. He
were awful to us sometimes."

"There can be no mistake," Ann thrust in. "He looks too much like you,
and the girl is exactly like him.... Oh, Floyd!"

Vandecar extended his arms, and, with a sob that shook his soul, drew
his boy to him.

"You're not Cronk's son," he said; "you're mine!... God! Ann, you'll
never know just how I feel toward you and Horace. You've made me your
life debtor; but, of course--of course, I didn't know, did I?" Then,
startled by a new thought, he realized Floyd. "But my girl!"

"Horace has gone for her," Ann cried.

"And I will follow him," groaned Vandecar. "Horace--and he could not
interest me in my own babies! If I'd helped him, my little girl wouldn't
have been taken away!"

In the man's breakdown, Ann's calm disappeared. Unable to restrain her
tears, she fluttered about, first to Floyd, then to his father, kissing
the boy again and again, assuring and reassuring the governor.

"Just remember," she whispered, bending over the sobbing man, "Horace
loves her better than anything in the world. Listen, Floyd! He's going
to marry her. Don't you think he'll do everything in his power to save
her?... Don't--don't sob that way!"

Of a sudden Vandecar leaped to his feet. Brushing a lock of white hair
from his damp brow, he turned to Floyd.

"Before I do anything else, I must take you to your mother."

"But ain't ye goin' for Flea?" demanded Floyd.

"Of course, I am going for my girl," cried Vandecar, "as fast as a train
can take me!" He turned suddenly and placed his firm hands on the boy's
shoulders. "Before I take you upstairs, boy, listen to me! You've a
little mother, a sick little mother who has mourn