When he let me breathe for a second, I gasped that, of course, it _couldn't_ be true, this wonderful thing that was happening?
"I've dreamed of you--a hundred times," I stammered. "Waking dreams--sleeping dreams. They've seemed as real--almost as real--as this."
"Did I kiss you like this, in the dreams?"
"Sometimes. But not in the realest ones. It never seemed real that you could care, in spite of all--that you'd forgive me, if you should come back----"
"Oh, 'want' isn't the word to express it!"
"Even though you dreaded--being found out!"
"That didn't count, against having you alive, and knowing you were in the world--if only for your parents' sake. I wanted them to be happy, more than I wanted anything for myself except Brian's good. I had you for my own, in my dreams, while you were dead, and I expected to lose you if you were alive. But----"
"Although you knew from Mother how I'd loved you, and searched for you?"
"But you can't! You know what a wicked, wicked wretch I was! Why, when you came into this room and looked at me, I _saw_ how you felt! And your letter----"
"Don't you understand, I was testing you? If you hadn't cared for me, what you did might have been--(only 'might', mind you, for what man can judge a girl's heart?) what you did to my people _might_ have been cruel and calculating. I had to find out the truth of things, before letting myself go. The letter was written to let a stranger see--if you turned out to be a stranger--what to expect. But O'Farrell made me sure in a minute, that the girl here must be _my_ Girl. After that, I'd only to see you--to ask if he told the truth--to watch your face--your precious, beautiful face! I thought of it and pictured it. But I never thought of those tears! Forgive me, my darling, for making them come. If you'll let me love you all your life, they shall be the last I'll ever cause."
I laughed, and cried a little more, at the same time. "What a word from you to me--'Forgive'!"
"Well, it's more suitable than from you to me, because there's nothing you could do that I wouldn't forgive before you did it, or even be sure it was just the one right thing to do. My Girl--my lost, found love--do you suppose it was of your own accord you came to my people and said you belonged to me? No. It was the Great Power that's in us all, which made you do what you did--the Power they call Providence. You understand now what I meant, when I said that one question from me and an answer from you, would smooth away all my difficulties at once? Bless that O'Farrell fellow!"