Oh, what joy thrilled their hearts when the doctor found a faint little sign of life, but what long and skillful nursing it took before Jessie was well again, or even strong enough to tell the story of Cora’s satanic cruelty!
But they were happy days when she was convalescing with so many dear ones by her side—her reunited parents, her precious little cousins, and last but not least, her devoted lover, Frank Laurier.
They did not hide their love from each other now, they could talk of the past without embarrassment, and once when Darling Jessie, as they called her now, scolded him for that first stolen kiss, he retorted by telling her of that second kiss upon the sea that had seemingly brought her back to life.
They had many things to tell her, but the story that interested her most of all was of her own apparent death and her interment in the old family vault.
She knew now that it was no dream, the memories she had cherished of her mother’s sorrow over her coffin, and Frank Laurier’s words of passionate love and grief. She would cherish them deep in her heart forever.
As for Mark and Willie, they received the most idolatrous love from all.
“It was so noble in you, Verna, to take them to our own home so generously that I was always thinking what I could do to reward you for your goodness, but, lo! God paid the debt of gratitude by making the little lads the saviors of our own daughter,” the fond husband cried, with deep emotion.
In the following spring Ernest Noel wrote to Mrs. Dalrymple telling her of Cora’s death at his villa in Italy.
Shortly after the announcement of this sad news Frank Laurier and the girl he loved were united in the holy bands of matrimony.