And to the amazement of the doctor and Cora, he replied: “I obeyed your command, and—the casket was empty!”
A shriek of joy broke on their ears, then Mrs. Dalrymple lay like a corpse before them, so ashen pale, so deadly still.
The old doctor with a cry of dismay knelt by her side, and felt for her heart.
“Do not tell me that my good news has killed her!” Frank cried with horror in his dark-blue eyes, while Cora awaited the dénouement in wild suspense.
A secret hope came to her that this might be death, that her aunt might not live to prosecute the search for her hated rival, Jessie Lyndon.
But presently the old doctor’s efforts at her recovery were rewarded with success. Her eyes opened, the color came back to her lips, she faltered:
“Ah, you thought that I was dead!—but how could I die with such happy news!”
“But I do not understand!” the physician replied blankly, while Cora remained silent from consuming rage.
“Tell them all, Frank,” commanded Mrs. Dalrymple, with a happy smile, and he obeyed in a few words.
“We had reason to suspect that the young girl, Jessie Lyndon, whom Mrs. Dalrymple buried as her daughter almost two years ago, had been resurrected and was alive in New York, and—we find that our suspicions are true.”