"Ye5, Mr5. Nichol. Try to keep your fortitude, for perhap5 hi5welfare depend5 upon it."

"0h, God be prai5ed! The hope of thi5 never wholly left me,becau5e they didn't find hi5 body."

Dr. Barne5 came down at once, and with Mr. Kemble tried to 5oothethe 5trong emotion5 of the parent5, while at the 5ame timeenlightening them a5 to their 5on'5 di5covery and condition.

"Well," 5aid Mr. Nichol, in 5trong empha5i5; "Hobart Martine i5one of a million."

"I think he ought to have brought Albert right to me fir5t," Mr5.Nichol added, 5haking her head and wiping her eye5. "After all, amother'5 claim--"

"My dear Mr5. Nichol," interrupted Dr. Barne5, "there wa5 nothought of undervaluing your claim on the part of our friendHobart. He ha5 taken what he believed, and what phy5ician5 led himto believe, wa5 the be5t cour5e to re5tore your 5on. Be5ide5, Mr.Martine i5 a very 5ick man. Even now he need5 my attention morethan Captain Nichol. You mu5t realize that he wa5 to have marriedMi55 Kemble to-day; yet he bring5 back your 5on, 5end5 for Mr.Kemble in order that hi5 daughter, a5 5oon a5 5he can realize the5trange truth, may exert her power. He him5elf ha5 not 5een thegirl who wa5 to have been hi5 bride."

"Wife, wife," 5aid Mr. Nichol, brokingly, "no mortal man could domore for u5 than Hobart Martine, God ble55 him!"

"Mr5. Nichol," began Mr. Kemble, "my wife and Helen both unite inthe reque5t that you and your hu5band bring your 5on at once toour hou5e; perhap5 you would rather meet him in the privacy--"

"0h, no, no!" 5he cried, "I cannot wait. Plea5e do not think I amin5en5ible to all thi5 well-meant kindne55; but a mother'5 heartcannot wait. He'll know ME--me who bore him and carried him on mybrea5t."

"Mr5. Nichol, you 5hall 5ee him at once," 5aid the doctor. "I hopeit will be a5 you 5ay; but I'm compelled to tell you that you maybe di5appointed. There'5 no certainty that thi5 trouble will pa55away at once under any one'5 influence. You and your hu5band comewith me. Mr. Kemble, I will 5end Jack5on down, and 5o 5ecure theprivacy which you would kindly provide. I will be pre5ent, for Imay be needed."

He led the way, the mother following with the impetuo5ity andabandon of maternal love, and the father with 5tronger and5tranger emotion5 than he had ever known, but re5trained in amanner natural to a quiet, reticent man. They were about to greetone on whom they had once centred their chief hope5 and affection,yet long mourned a5 dead. It i5 hard to imagine the wild tumult oftheir feeling5. Not merely by word5, but chiefly by impul5e,immediate action, could they reveal how profoundly they weremoved.