"Oh!" cried the old man, embracing them closely by turns; "this is too much happiness—I do not deserve to be so happy after my cruel conduct."
"Father," the young man replied, nobly, "it is owing to the merited chastisement you inflicted upon me that I have become an honest man; forget the past, then, which is now nothing but a dream, think only of the future, which smiles upon you."
At this moment Doña Luz appeared, blushing and timid.
As soon as he perceived her, the general sprang towards her, took her by the hand, and led her to Doña Jesuita, whose arms were opened to receive her.
"My niece!" he said, with a face radiant with joy, "you may love Loyal Heart without fear, for he is really my son. God, in his infinite goodness has permitted that I should find him again at the moment when I despaired of such happiness!"
The young girl uttered a cry of joy, and concealed her blushing face in the bosom of Doña Jesuita, abandoning her hand to Rafaël, who covered it with kisses, while he fell at her feet.
[EPILOGUE.]
It was a few months after the expedition of the Count de Raousset Boulbon.
At that period the name of Frenchmen stood high in Sonora.