He did not finish the sentence, for, like a wild beast startled from its lair by a sudden fright, Captain Murdock bounded to his side, and, snatching the letter from him, devoured its contents at a glance then striking his hands together, he fairly screamed: "Thank God! the year of jubilee has come,—the day I’ve waited for so long!" Earnestly and half fearfully Walter gazed up into the marble face, and into the eyes that burned like coals of fire, seeing in them now, for the first time, a look like his grandfather. Then a suspicion of truth burst upon him, and springing up he caught the gray-haired captain by the arm, demanding faintly: "Who are you? Tell me, or I shall die." "I am your father, boy," and, opening his arms, the father received to his embrace his fainting son. The news and the surprise combined were too much for Walter, and for some little time he lay upon the bed, whither his father had borne him, unconscious of the caresses, the words of love, the whispered blessings showered on him by one who felt now that he trod a different earth, and breathed a different air from what he had done for twenty-four long years. "_Father_,"—how like music that word sounded in his ear when Walter said it at last, and how it wrung tears from eyes which, until recently, were unused to weep. "Say it again, my son. Call me father often. 'Tis the name I’ve thirsted for, but never expected to hear," and the strong man, weak now as a woman, kissed lovingly the face of the handsome boy. "Read it aloud," Walter said, pointing to the crumpled letter lying on the floor. Mr. Marshall complied, and read in tremulous tones how Ralph Heyward, after an absence of eighteen years, had again asked shelter at the farm-house, saying he was tired and sick. His request was granted, and when the morning came he was too ill to leave his bed, but lay there for many days, kindly cared for by the deacon, to whom he made a full confession of his guilt, saying that _he_, and not Seth Marshall, robbed the Deerwood Bank; that it was what he intended to do when he came there that night, feigning drunkenness the better to cover his design. He knew that Seth kept the keys in his pocket, and when sure that the household were asleep, he arose, and putting on his victim’s coat, cap and shoes, left the house stealthily, committed the theft, hid the money, and then as cautiously returned to his room, and was settling himself a second time into an apparently drunken sleep, when he heard some one up, looking, as he supposed, for the cause of the disturbance he had made in accidentally upsetting a chair as he left Seth Marshall’s room. Then he was still again until the morning came, and the arrest was made.