this child, and the relationship
occurred to him at first as the merest possibility, but grew almost to
a certainty, as the resemblance between you increased; and yet, you
can see that under the circumstances, while you were under the control
and in the power of these people, it would not be best to say anything
until he had some proof as to your identity."

"I see," Lyle answered, thoughtfully, "but now that I remember her as
my mother, do you suppose that he would talk with me about her, or
help me to find my true relatives?"

"I hardly know how to answer you," said Miss Gladden slowly, "there is
some mystery about it all, dear, that I do not understand; he might
perhaps talk more freely with you, but with me he appeared willing to
say very little regarding your mother, or your friends. Still, he gave
me a hint, so vague and shadowy I scarcely understood it, but to the
effect that he thought there might, before long, be an opportunity
for a meeting between you and those whom he believed to be your
friends."

"Well," said Lyle, after a pause, "Jack is a true friend to me, he
knows what is best, and I can afford to wait with even such a
possibility to look forward to. I will not wait in idleness either, I
shall try to find some clue, some evidence as to who I really am, and
something tells me I will succeed." Then she added tenderly, "Do you
know, I believe, whoever my mother may have been, Jack must have loved
her."

"She certainly was very dear to him," replied Miss Gladden.

They talked till far into the morning hours, and as they finally
separated for the night, Lyle approached her friend, and throwing her
arms about her neck, she exclaimed, almost in tears:

"Oh, Leslie, you can never know how glad I am that you have shown me
this, and shown it to me to-night! I have felt so disgraced, so
degraded by the life here, it seemed as if I were a part of it all, a
part of my own hateful surroundings but now, I know I am not; now,"
she continued, lifting her head proudly and raising her arms slowly
with a beautiful gesture, "they can fetter me no longer! The chains
that have held me so long and so cruelly are already bursting; even
now, I can rise above them; soon, I shall be free!"

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Do coming events cast their shadows before? Did the silently-waving
pinions of the angel who "troubled the waters" give any hint of his
beneficent approach? However that may be, certain it is that on the
morn