Among them came Craven Kyte, saying, as soon as he got a chance to speak:
"Mr. Lytton, I have come to implore your pardon for the great wrong I unconsciously did you. Heaven knows I never meant it!"
"I do not believe that you ever did," said Alden Lytton, kindly, taking his hand.
"I was mad and blind. She told me it was only to be a practical joke, and made it the only condition of our marriage, and I complied because I was her slave," continued Craven Kyte, not very clearly.
"Say no more about it. Forget it all as fast as you can. I shall," answered Alden, gently pressing and relinquishing the hand that he had held.
"Your carriage waits, my dear Lytton. And I am sure you are anxious to get back to Blue Cliffs and be the first to convey this good news to your wife," said Mr. Lyle, with a view to help Alden to get rid of his well-meaning but troublesome friends, who, in the earnestness of their sympathy with his triumph, forgot they were keeping him from her whom his soul most longed to meet.
Friends took the gentle hint, shook hands with him and released him.
And very soon Alden Lytton, with Mr. Lyle and Laura, were on their way to Blue Cliffs.
As the carriage rolled into the yard, Emma ran down the steps, her face radiant with joy, to meet the beloved husband from whom she had been separated for so many weeks under such trying circumstances, and whose face she had been the first to see through the glass windows of the carriage.
A moment more and they were locked in each other's arms, fervently thanking Heaven for their happy reunion.