The dinner turned out to be a most bountiful meal, in spite of Aunt Chloe’s fears; and at half-past six a very merry company gathered around the long table, which, for want of space elsewhere, had been set in the wide hall that ran through the house from front to rear.  The evening was so warm that the front door stood wide open, and when dinner was nearly over, the whole party were laughing so heartily at one of Uncle Christopher’s funny stories, that no one heard the sound of wheels at the gate, nor noticed the figure that, with white face and wild eyes, stared at them from the open doorway.

No, not at them; only at one of them—­the fair-haired girl, almost a woman, who sat at the head of the table, on Mr. Elmer’s right hand, and on whose face the light shone full and strong.

Then a cry rang through the hall, a cry almost of agony, and it was “Margaret!  Margaret! my wife Margaret!  Am I dreaming, or can the dead come to life?”

As the startled guests looked towards the door Mr. March entered the room, and without noticing any one else, walked straight to where Edna May was sitting.  She, frightened at his appearance and fixed gaze, clung to Mr. Elmer’s arm, and Captain May half rose from his chair with a confused idea that the girl, whom he loved as his own daughter, was in danger.

“Who is she, Elmer? where did she come from?” exclaimed Mr. March.  “She is the living image of my dead wife; only younger, much younger, and more beautiful than she whom I drove from her home,” he added, with a groan.

Mr. Elmer had noticed the strange resemblance between Frank March and Edna May, and had determined to speak to his wife about it that night.  Now it all flashed across him as clear as sunlight; but before he could speak, Ruth sprang to his side, and taking her friend’s hand in hers, cried,

“Don’t you see, father, she is his own daughter, the baby he thought was drowned in the Savannah River so many years ago?  Captain May saved her, and now he has brought her back to her father and brother.  Frank, Edna is your own sister.”

Mr. March tried to take Edna into his arms, but she slipped away from him and ran to Captain May, saying, “This is my father, the only one I have ever known.  As he has loved and cared for me, so do I love him.  I will never, never leave him!” and she burst into tears.

After soothing and quieting her, Captain May said, “Mr. March, I suspected this long ago.  Mark and Ruth told me of the resemblance between Edna and your son on our way North together last spring, and I made them promise not to mention it to her.  I hoped it would prove to be only a fancied resemblance; but, as a Christian man, I could not keep father and daughter separated, if indeed they were father and daughter.  So I brought her here to meet you face to face; and from what I have just seen I am inclined to think you are her own father, but you must prove it to me.  Prove the fact beyond a doubt, and I will yield to you an undivided half interest in this dear child.  Only a half, though.  I can’t give up the love that has twined round my heart for nearly fifteen years.”