y and gloom! God had sent a pitying heart
to her in the hour of her saddest need, and had gently led her back to
the home whence her mother had been cruelly banished; that mother He had
received into more beauteous mansions, but the child was left, to
fulfill a noble and glorious mission among those who had hitherto deemed
her as helpless in the grave! Strangers had proved better than those of
her own household to the outcast and orphan, and had nurtured and cared
for her while they were contenting themselves with the report that she
had gone where no earthly care avails. Only the evening before had she
sat in the midst of her relatives, with a sad feeling of isolation--now
they were gathered about her with evidences of an awakening love and
tenderness. It was pleasant to shut her eyes and open them again upon so
glad a revelation! So thought Jennie as she gazed upon her new-found
connections, who crowded around with exclamations of surprise and
affection. Carrie, then, was her own cousin! and the great heart against
which she was so fondly pressed was warm with kindred blood? Grandpa,
too, had fondled and caressed her idolized mother, and even his
wandering faculties had detected her lineage, so that he had clung to
her for some better reason than an impulsive and wayward fancy!

"Speak not now, my darling," said Mr. Halberg, as Jennie made an effort
to say something to him, "but put your arms around my neck, and let me
feel by this mute expression that the past is forgiven; I am not yet
able to bear one word from the child of my deserted sister."

The young girl's lips were still parted, but the loving arms twined
closely around her uncle, and although no verbal absolution came, he
felt that the past would never again haunt him with its spectral figure,
but that his sister's blessing would come to him through the child who
now lay so fondly upon his bosom.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Three more years had mingled with the past, and yet Mrs. Dunmore and
Jennie, who had now developed into a mature and perfect beauty, lingered
in the vicinity of the Halbergs. Not that they had any idea of sundering
the ties that so closely united them, or of claiming a place for the
orphan in the home of her newly-found kindred, but the old man clung
with such touching fondness to his beloved grandchild, and grew so
frantic if she left him, even for a few days, that it seemed a sacred
duty to give themselves up to his few remaining years;