Page:Horrid Mysteries Volume 3.djvu/213

 thank him for his kind invitation, when he ran towards me, pressing me tenderly to his bosom.

"I know you, Don Carlos," he added; "and the discovery you have made just now saves me a farther elucidation. You have preserved my son's life; receive the grateful effusions of a father's heart; but, at the same time, lament with me his untimely death." With these words a torrent of tears gushed down his cheeks.

"Gracious Heaven!" I exclaimed, kissing the tears from his cheeks, "is it possible?" A violent emotion, which had been preparing all the morning, and only had waited for a pretext of growing loud, interrupted me here. A copious stream of tears relieved my heart; I pressed him to my bosom, and reclined my face on his shoulder.

"Yes, you are quite that sensible, excellent man," he resumed, "whose picture my son has so frequently drawn to us with enthusiastic warmth. Alas! his fate en-