It was near the midnight hour when at length Mr. Webster arrived, bearing a burden,—the form of an unconscious child found by him on the roadside. The noise and bustle of the arrival aroused Mr. Harris, who decided to investigate. Judge of his surprise to find his brother-in-law burdened with a waif of apparently nine years of age,—one, too, whose sunburned features seemed strangely familiar to him. Actuated by a feeling of uneasiness, Mrs. Harris wrapped a light shawl around her, and also descended to the lower part of the house to ascertain why her brother had been detained so late. No sooner had the eyes of the lady rested upon the face of the child—who had been conveyed to a bed-room and placed upon the couch, where Mrs. Webster was now attending to him—than she started forward, exclaiming: “It is, it is Georgie Stevens!” In a moment her husband was beside her, and as he, too, gazed upon the form before him, the conviction fastened upon his mind that it was no other than the little boy whom he had more than once seen in his own house, and whom he knew to be the son of a poor yet worthy woman employed in former times by his wife as a seamstress. A startled silence fell upon all in that apartment, for each one present knew of the “strange dreams” that had visited Mrs. Harris; and as the stillness deepened, a peculiar light shone above the face of the fever-tossed child, which formed into letters, and then words, until the sentence: “God’s and the Angels’ Gift,” could be read, and having been read slowly faded from sight. When the fever abated, and little Georgie returned to consciousness, he found himself cared for by loving friends, who had accepted their charge reverently and gladly; and when he became able to relate the story of his miserable life in the West, under the persecutions of his cruel master, the confirmation of the spirits’ statements to Mrs. Harris was received. In a little while the child was able to travel, and he was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Harris to their eastern home; for these good people had determined to adopt and educate him as their son. Through these occurrences, Mr. Harris sought to investigate Spiritualism, which he did to his satisfaction, receiving unbounded evidence of its truth. His wife still continues to have “visions” and to hold communion with the spirits, and her soul is happy and at rest. Little Georgie, now a youth who bids fair to make a mark in the world, has never seen his own mother since the night he followed her spirit from the home of his tormentor; but he delights to receive tidings of her watchful care over him from the lips of his beloved second mother, Mrs. Harris, who often holds communion with her spirit in the silence of the midnight hour. CHAPTER X. LUCY AIKEN’S MISSION.