"Didn't I hear something about Carl--something terrible?"
"Carl is alive and well," said he, soothingly;
"Are you sure of that?" asked Dr. Crawford, in excitement.
"Yes, I have the best evidence of it. Here is Carl himself."
Carl came forward and was clasped in his father's arms.
"Thank Heaven, you are alive," he said.
"Why should I not be?" asked Carl, bewildered, turning to Ashcroft.
"Your stepmother had the--let me say imprudence,
to tell your father that you had been killed on the railroad."
"Where could she have heard such a report?"
"I am not sure that she heard it at all," said Ashcroft,
in a low voice. "She knew that your father had heart disease."
CHAPTER XL.
CONCLUSION.
At this moment Mrs. Crawford re-entered the room.
"What brings you here?" she demanded, coolly, of Carl.
"I came here because this is my father's house, madam."
"You have behaved badly to me," said Mrs. Crawford.
"You have defied my authority, and brought sorrow
and distress to your good father. I thought you
would have the good sense to stay away."
"Do you indorse this, father?" asked Carl,
turning to Dr. Crawford.
"No!" answered his father, with unwonted energy.
"My house will always be your home."
"You seem to have changed your mind, Dr. Crawford,"
sneered his wife.
"Where did you pick up the report of Carl's being killed
on the railroad?" asked the doctor, sternly.
"Peter heard it in the village," said Mrs. Crawford, carelessly.
"Did it occur to you that the sudden news
might injure your husband?" asked Ashcroft.
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