A lost memory was feeling blindly its way home again.

By and by, out of an infinite past, something struggled to the old woman's eyes, and Parpon's heart almost burst in his anxiety.

At length her look steadied.

Memory, recognition, showed in her face.
With a wild cry her gaunt arms stretched across, and caught the great head to her breast.
"Where have you been so long, Parpon--my son ?" she said..