The day came when she opened wide her beautiful eyes with the light of reason shining in them, and saw sitting by the bed a handsome, fair-haired man, who had about him a subtle fascination that instantly drew her heart.
“Who are you?” she whispered faintly.
He turned and took her hand.
“Have you never heard of your absent father, dear little Jessie?”
“Yes. Are you——”
“Yes, I am your father, dearest. Will you kiss me?”
She held up her sweet face passively and gave him a child’s dutiful kiss, murmuring plaintively:
“And my mother?”
A dark frown gloomed his brow as he retorted angrily:
“We will never speak of her, Jessie. She is as one dead to us both.”