is she?"

This was worse than Jake's letter, and every nerve in the Colonel's body
was quivering with excitement, and he felt as if a hundred prickly
sensations were chasing each other up and down his arms and legs, and
making his tongue thick as he tried to call for Peter. Succeeding at
last, he said faintly, "Take this girl away before she kills me."

"I shall not go," Eloise rejoined, "until I see my mother. I tell you
she is my mother. Has she never spoken of me?"

"Never," the Colonel answered. "She has talked of a baby who died, and
you are not dead."

"No, but I am Baby,--her pet name for me always. Why she should think me
dead, I don't know. Send for her, and see if she does not know me."

She had come close to the trembling old man, and put one of her hands
on his cold, clammy one. He didn't shake it off, but looked at her with
an expression in his eyes which roused her sympathy.

"I don't mean any harm," she said. "I only want my mother. Send for her,
please."

There was a motion of assent toward Peter, who left the room,
encountering Mrs. Biggs outside the door. There was too much going on
for her not to have a hand in it, and she stood listening and waiting
till Amy came down the hall, her white cashmere wrapper trailing softly
behind her, and her hair coiled under a pretty invalid cap. She had been
roused from a sound sleep, which had cleared her brain somewhat, and
when told the Colonel wished to see her, she rose at once and started to
go to him, fearing he was worse. He heard her coming, and braced himself
up. Eloise heard her, and, with her head thrown back and her hands
clasped together, stood waiting for her. For a moment Amy did not see
her, so absorbed was she in the expression of the Colonel, who was
watching her intently. When at last she did see her, she started
suddenly, while a strange light leaped into her eyes. Then a wild, glad
cry of "Baby! Baby!" rang through the room, and was answered by one of
"Mother! Mother!" as the two women sprang to each other's arms.

Amy was the first to recover herself. Turning Eloise around and
examining her minutely, she said, "I thought you dead. He told me so,
and everything has been a blank to me since."

"You see she is my mother!" Eloise said to the Colonel; "and if she is
your daughter, you must be my grandfather!"

If the Colonel had been carved in stone he could not have sat more
motionless than he did, giving no sign that he heard.

"No ma