In the wonderful power with which she proclaimed her deathless loyalty to the husband of her love, and her conviction that God would interpose to shield his helpless child, the audience recognized the fervour and pathos of the rendition, and the applause that greeted her, as she bowed sobbing over her baby, told how the hearts of her hearers thrilled.
The curtain fell, and Cuthbert's eyes, gleaming like steel, turned to his father's countenance.
"Is that true? Dare you deny it?"
The old man only stared blankly at the carpet on the floor, and his son's fingers closed like a vice around his arm.
"You have practised an infernal imposture upon me! You told me she followed him, and that the child was his."
"He said so."
General Laurance's voice was husky, and a grey hue had settled upon his features.
"You paid him to proclaim the base falsehood! You whom I trusted so fully. Father, where is my child?"
No answer; and the curtain rose on the fair young mother, came forward with her own golden hair in full splendour.
Involuntarily the audience testified their recognition of the beautiful actress who now appeared for the first time, looking as when she made her début long ago in Paris. She was at the asylum, with a young child clinging to her finger, tottering at her side, and as she guided its steps, and hushed it in her arms, many mothers among the spectators felt the tears rush to their eyes.