She congratulated him warmly, and said, meaningly:
“I will be glad to be present at the ceremony, but my daughter is asleep.”
Arthur started wildly, and echoed:
“Your daughter!”
“Yes, Arthur;” and she drew him gently into the room. “Come and look at her, how pale and ill she lies, almost stricken to death by the thought that she was your sister. Oh, I have such happy news for you both, Arthur!”
“She is stirring, she is waking!” he exclaimed, eagerly; and indeed at that moment the girl opened wide her large dark eyes, with a dazed look.
Madame Ray, all joyful excitement, covered her daughter’s face with kisses, exclaiming:
“Oh, Cinthia, oh, Arthur, such joyful news! I have found out that you are my lost daughter, my darling! You know, Arthur, you always declared we resembled each other. Well, the nurse stole her from me to sell her to your father’s second wife; for she deceived her husband, the wicked woman; she never had a child of her own. That dying woman in yonder, Rachel Dane, has confessed everything. You and Cinthia are not brother and sister at all, but lovers as in past days. Kiss her, Arthur, if you wish, and be happy again.”
He bent down to obey, but drew back again, with a cry of grief:
“I can not! She is promised to my cousin.”