The girl stood perfectly speechless with the
shock.
"My child--my child--my child! For years I have hungered and thirsted
for this hour. I have desired it as the blind desire sight. My child--my
child! have you no word for your dying mother?"
"Mother!"
The word broke from Mollie's white lips like a sobbing sigh. The intense
surprise of the unexpected revelation stunned her.
"You believe me, then--you do believe me!" Miriam cried, holding her
fast.
"You are dying," was Mollie's solemn answer. "Oh, my mother! why did you
not tell me this before?"
"Because I would not disgrace you and drag you down. I loved you far too
well for that. I could have done nothing for you but bespatter you with
the mire in which I wallowed, and I wanted you, my beautiful one--my
pearl, my lily--to be spotless as mountain snow. It can do you no harm
to know when I am dead."
"And Carl Walraven is nothing to me?"
"Nothing, Mollie--less than nothing. Not one drop of his black blood
flows in your veins. Are you sorry, Mollie?"
"No," said Mollie, drawing a long breath.
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