"
"Oh, Madame, how can I say it? Can you bear it?"
"I have borne suspense for twenty-three years. I can bear much. What
is it you would tell me?"
"You know, Madame, I said the older man was the young man's father.
They both have the same name."
"That's not uncommon, especially in America. The young man is called
Junior. Sometimes when they are very proud of a family name they
number them. Supposing my husband were living, and my son had a son,
named after himself, the little boy would be Quincy Adams Sawyer
3rd."
"Madame, I must tell you. The father and the son bear the name of
Quincy Adams Sawyer!"
Alice regarded her as if affrighted. Then she leaped from the bed and
cried: "Bring me my clothes, Babette. My husband and son! We three,
brought together by the hand of God once more."
The revulsion was too great. The pent-up agony of twenty-three years
dissolved in a moment. Alice fainted and fell into Babette's arms.
CHAPTER XXV
A PERIOD OF TWENTY-THREE YEARS
It took hours for the overjoyed wife and mother and the long-lost
husband and father to tell their stories. Alice's was told first, and
was followed by young Quincy's recital of his life at Fernborough,
his four years at Harvard, and the story of the returned bill of
exchange leading him to Europe, and his search for his mother in
Vienna which ended with such happiness for all.
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