A Daughter of Maryland — page 197: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

172 A DAUGHTER OF MARYLAND. He received her caresses without moving or speaking. He could not lift a hand he was so weak; he dared not utter a word lest he should dispel what seemed to his dis- ordered brain a wild but happy phantasm of the mind. ‘* My son,’’ she cried sorrowfully, ‘‘you do not know me. I do not wonder, it has been so long, and you were so small. Speak, my boy, and say that you forgive your poor mother for her years of neglect. ”’ ‘Oh, God! had I one moment’s light!’’ he cried, and throwing up his hands fell prone upon the ground. ‘‘He is dead!’’ wailed the distracted woman, throwing herself upon his prostrate figure. Nothing was done clearly during that exciting period, but somehow HEsten Berners was carried into the house and made as comfortable as possible. Then, when he had begun to breathe more regularly, the little group of anxious watchers recovered themselves enough to think and act for themselves. Carroll Southard was naturally the first to break the silence. ‘*General Lancier, this is a happy moment for me. The veil of the past is so far lifted that I see clearly now the dark mystery that has hung over my life. Father was innocent of wrong, and so were you. Let Mrs. Berners tell her strange story. ’’ He bowed his head in silence, while Aurian, lisiening, waited with a wild throbbing at her heart. Este> Berners at that moment started up, and murmuring someiaing they did not catch, he reached out his right hand, until it rested on the face of her who claimed to be his mother, when he moved it slowly over her features. ‘*Mother!’’ he murmured. ‘‘How I wish I had my eyes again. ’”’ : ~ When her new-found son had grown calmer and she herself had gathered strength for the task, Mrs. Berners gave her singular story, prefacing it with the words: ‘*This is the happiest yet the saddest hour of my life. EComicboo ‘S (ere) mn ,