"No—no—it is true. Oh, George, my husband, is it indeed you?"
"Yes, Belle, and I have returned never to leave you again."
Her joy was accompanied by hysterics, and she sobbed and laughed alternately, her arms encircling the neck of her husband.
"You must not leave me—oh, it still seems like a dream—but where is he? Had I married him? Oh, it is horrible!" and she closed her eyes, as if to hide the memory of the scene.
"But yourself, George?" she continued; "tell us where you have been all these long, long, weary months."
"Calm yourself, Belle. Be satisfied that we are reunited. My story is a long one, and after you recover from this excitement you shall know all."
Senator Hamblin, although greatly bewildered, was thoroughly convinced that George Alden really stood before him. When the apparition burst so suddenly upon him, he reeled, and for a time nearly lost his senses, but when he saw his daughter clasped in the arms of the intruder, and heard the words that fell from her lips, fright was superseded by surprise. His heart was filled with both fear and joy; the former overwhelming him as he thought of his responsibility for all the trouble of the past two years; yet joy taking possession of him when he beheld alive the man of whose death he had believed himself the immediate cause. When he had fully regained his composure, he grasped George Alden's hand, and said:
"Forgive me; I have deeply wronged you!" He stooped as if about to fall upon his knees, but Alden said: