“I have been content, William,” she said, under her breath; “it was only a little while that I had to strive—while my grief was so keen and fresh. But let us not talk of this now,” she concluded, with a glance toward their visitors.
Colonel Mapleson sighed; then he said, with an anxious look at her face:
“Estelle, I am afraid all this excitement will prove too much for you, and you had better go to rest; but, first, come and speak to my son, will you?”
His tone was pleading, and his unusual gentleness touched her; it told her that he felt more of sympathy than blame for the errors of her past. She arose with a sense of relief, such as she had not experienced during all her married life. Her burdensome secret—that terrible barrier that had always stood between her and her husband—was at last all swept away. She could not tell whether it would create an impassable gulf between them or not, but at least she had nothing now to conceal.
She went to Geoffrey with him, prepared to welcome him as her husband’s first-born, with all the cordiality of which she was mistress.
“My boy,” said the colonel, holding out his hand to him, “can you own your father after all that you have heard?—can you forgive the deception of my early years—my moral cowardice in turning my back upon you at Saratoga—and let me have the satisfaction of repairing, as far as may be, the hardships of your youth? My debt of gratitude to your other father”—with a glance at Mr. Huntress—“I can never repay.”
Geoffrey warmly grasped that extended hand.
“You have made my heart more glad than I can tell you, sir,” he said. “I can forget—I can overlook everything, now that I know my mother was your loved and honored wife. I came here fearing the worst—fearing that a dreadful stigma rested upon my birth—that I was not entitled to an honorable name.”
“You are entitled to much more than that, Geoffrey,” Colonel Mapleson returned, smiling, although his lips trembled and his eyes were full of tears; “there is a handsome fortune awaiting your disposal.”
“A fortune!” said the young man, wonderingly.