ed. "It is but a few months
since I knew that I possessed you."

"But I always knew that you were my mother. I always knew it, though no
one ever told me!" sobbed Gem.

"And did you think that I had deserted you all this time, my daughter,
my daughter?" inquired the lady, lingering on the last word, and
tenderly gazing into her dark eyes.

"I thought you were compelled to do it, mother!"

"What! to leave you here alone, uncared for and unschooled, all these
long years? No, my daughter; no, no, no. I did not know that I was
blessed with a daughter; I did not know that you lived, until within a
few months past. Mistaken love for me, inordinate care for me, induced
all those who were nearest to me to conceal your existence from me,
lest, if I should know it, I should compromise my safety, my liberty
and life, Gem, by seeking to see you!"

"Oh, mother!"

"And they were so far right, my darling, that as soon as at last, your
father informed me of your existence, and of a necessity to bring you
over to us for education, I became so impatient that I could not wait
for you to be brought to me. I felt that I must fetch you, at all risks,
for the sake of seeing you some few weeks earlier than I could by
waiting for you over there! So here I am, my daughter!"

"But oh! dearest, dearest mother, at what a hazard!" sighed Gem.

"I do not believe it, my darling. I do not believe, after all these
years, that any one will seek to molest me for the few days that I shall
remain here, even if my presence should be suspected, which will be very
improbable, as I have taken and shall take every precaution for secrecy.
I have travelled only by night, Gem, and this is the first time I have
raised my thick veil."

"But oh, mother!" she said, giving an alarmed look around, for she
suddenly remembered that there were the doctor and the lawyer in the
house; but she did not see them. They had discreetly withdrawn into the
back room.

"And now, dear Gem, here is your father, who is waiting to embrace you,"
said Sybil.

And Lyon Berners, who had forborne to interrupt the meeting between the
mother and daughter, and who was standing apart, talking in low, eager
tones with Mrs. Winterose, now came forward and folded his daughter to
his heart, and laid his hand upon her head and blessed her.

"But who is that?" exclaimed Sybil, in a startled tone, as she turned
her eyes upon a ghastly and blood-stained form, sitting bolt upright on
the co