When she gave the pawnbroker her name, he said:
“Rumble? Frances Rumble? Why, a young man was here to-day inquiring for Mr. Rumble, and some time ago the carrier brought two letters here for you. I could not tell him where you lived, and he took them away.”
Fanny’s heart beat wildly. She was sure that the letters were from Arthur, and that it was he who had inquired for her father.
“Is this Miss Rumble?” said one of the men who had followed her into the shop.
She turned and recognized Dixon. The person with him was Teague. Dixon had just pawned a watch, and had remarked that he wished Rumble still kept the shop.
When Fanny told them of her father’s illness and of his misfortune, Dixon and Teague insisted on going home with her, meaning to lend assistance in some way.
When they reached Fanny’s humble lodging, and followed her into her father’s room, they found Maxwell at Rumble’s bedside.
A cry of joy escaped Fanny as her lover folded her in his arms. She soon learned from him that he had never received the letter in which she wrote him about her father’s trouble and their removal from the old shop. It had missed him while he was moving about in the West. And then he told her of the success of his invention.
Rumble, whose mind was lucid for the moment, said:
“You will be happy at last, Fanny. Arthur has come for you.”