Lebeau's face brightened still more. Then he appeared to reflect. Of course it would have been balm to his departing soul to make himself known to her, to be a father for one short hour, to go with the pardon and caress of his child. But would she not repulse him? Would she find him worthy of her? And after all, was it not better that she should remain a foundling rather than be known as the child of Lebeau, the adventurer, the professor and purveyor of vice to the great?--Ah, well! he would hold his peace, would die without disturbing any one, and leave her happy. But in any case he must hasten to inform Frank who he was, and give him the means of establishing his identity. "Frank!" he murmured. "I wish to see Frank--to speak with him." "You have made sufficient effort for to-day. Rest now; to-morrow you shall talk with him." "To-morrow--I shall not be here. Go--go and find him." Without further objection Levet, who understood the true condition of his patient, left the chamber. In a few moments he reappeared, followed by Frank and Esther hand in hand. Their faces, radiant with youth and happiness, clouded with sadness. With bowed heads and faltering steps they approached the bed. Frank paused upon one side, while Esther sank upon her knees at the other. "Father!" she breathed. "Then you heard--" "All!" The emotion proved too much for the sufferer. He felt his head swim, and believed that the final vertigo had come. "Only one moment!" he murmured, as though demanding respite of the destructive forces of nature; "Frank must know--" "Frank already knows that he is the true Lord Mowbray," whispered Esther. "But the proofs!" pursued Lebeau; "the proofs are necessary. The nurse, Elizabeth Hughes, still lives--at Bangor--in Wales. She will give all the necessary evidence.--Elizabeth Hughes--do not forget!" He was exhausted with so much speech. His aching eyes had lost their circumspection. Gropingly his hand sought the fair head of his daughter and rested there. Then his thoughts fled backward over forty long years. Again he saw the humble peasant's cot in the mountains of Dauphiné, whence he had set out to see the world. We saw a dying woman lying upon her bed,--his mother! Her faltering hand was laid upon his boyish head, pressing it gently, tenderly. All the remainder of his existence had vanished; all that remained was the Alpha and Omega; an utter void united that caress received and this caress given. It was a foretaste of that world where there is no reckoning of time, where moments are as ages, where thoughts and acts are lost in one eternal present. Entering noiselessly, Levet passed here and there about the room upon tiptoe. Lebeau realized all that took place, but the power of perception had abandoned him. "Are you there, doctor?" he asked. "Yes." "Bring them close to me." Esther stooped and kissed the brow upon which the dews of death had begun to gather. "We shall meet again, father," she whispered.