CHAPTER XVII.
THE QUESTION ANSWERED.
It was late in the evening when our travelers reached the city,
which loomed up before Dora like an old familiar friend. They
found Mrs. Elliott waiting to receive them, together with Mr.
Hastings's mother, who, having heard so much of _Dora Deane_,
had come over to see her. Very affectionately did Mrs. Elliott
greet the weary girl, and after divesting her of her wrappings,
she led her to her mother, whose keen eyes scrutinized her
closely, but found no fault in the fair childish face which looked
so timidly up to her. Half bewildered, Dora gazed about her, and
then, with her eyes swimming in tears, whispered softly to Mr.
Hastings, "I am so afraid it will prove to be a dream."
"I will see that it does not," said Mrs. Elliott, who had
overheard her, and who, as time passed on, became more and more
interested in the orphan girl.
For several days Mr. Hastings lingered, showing her all over the
city, and going once with her to visit the room where he had found
her.
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