In order to do this, it was necessary for him to pass ’Lena’s room, the door of which was ajar.  She was awake, and hearing his step, thought it was Mrs. Aldergrass, and called to her.  A thrill of exquisite delight ran through his frame at the sound of her voice, and for an instant he debated the propriety of going to her at once.  A second call decided him, and in a moment he was at her bedside, clasping her in his arms, and exclaiming, “My precious ’Lena!  My daughter!  Has nothing ever told you that I am your father, the husband of your angel mother, who lives again in her child—­my child—­my ’Lena?”

For a moment ’Lena’s brain grew dizzy, and she had well-nigh fainted, when the sound of Mr. Graham’s voice brought her back to consciousness.  Pressing his lips to her white brow, he said, “Speak to me my daughter.  Say that you receive me as your father for such I am.”

With lightning rapidity ’Lena’s thoughts traversed the past, whose dark mystery was now made plain, and as the thought that it might be so—­that it was so—­flashed upon her, she clasped her hands together, exclaiming, “My father!  Is it true?  You are not deceiving me?”

“Deceive you, darling?—­no,” said he.  “I am your father, and Helena Nichols was my wife.”

“Why then did you leave her?  Why have you so long left me unacknowledged?” asked ’Lena.

Mr. Graham groaned bitterly.  The hardest part was yet to come, but he met it manfully, telling her the whole story, sparing not himself in the least, and ending by asking if, after all this, she could forgive and love him as her father.

Raising herself in bed, ’Lena wound her arms around his neck, and laying her face against his, wept like a little child.  He felt that he was sufficiently answered, and holding her closer to his bosom, he pushed back the clustering curls, kissing her again and again, while he said aloud, “I have your answer, dearest one; we will never be parted again.”

So absorbed was he in his newly-recovered treasure, that he did not observe the fiery eye, the glittering teeth, and clenched first of Durward Bellmont, who had returned from his walk, and who, in coming up to his, room, had recognized the tones of his father’s voice.  Recoiling backward a step or two, he was just in time to see ’Lena as she threw herself into Mr. Graham’s, arms—­in time to hear the tender words of endearment lavished upon her by his father.  Staggering backward, he caught at the banister to keep from falling, while a moan of anguish came from his ashen lips.  Alone in his room, he grew calmer, though his heart still quivered with unutterable agony as he strode up and down the room, exclaiming, as he had once done before, “I would far rather see her dead than thus—­my lost, lost ’Lena!”

Then, in the deep bitterness of his spirit, he cursed his father, whom he believed to be far more guilty than she.  “I cannot meet him,” thought he; “there is murder at my heart, and I must away ere he knows of my presence.”