Tahmeroo did not take the hand, but drew close to Butler; she could not quite comprehend the scene.
Again Butler laughed, but hoarsely and with a troubled abruptness.
“And you expect me to believe this; you——”
“Not without proof; one of you,” said Varnham, turning to the servants that now came crowding into the hall, “one of you call the housekeeper, if she is yet alive.”
An old woman, whose hair was folded, white as snow, under her cap, came into the hall, and, shading her eyes with one hand, fell to perusing his features with a disturbed manner.
“Mrs. Mason!”
She knew the voice; the hand dropped from her eyes, and tears began to course down her cheek.
“My master—my master!”
The oldest servants, who had held back till then, crowded forward, smiling and crying in the same breath.
“The master—oh, the master has come back!”