Third Period Chapter 53 The Wife's Return

The cry fell upon the ears of Lord Harry, who was in the garden below.
He rushed into the house and lifted his wife upon the bed. The
photograph showed him plainly what had happened.

She came to her senses again, but seeing her husband alive before her,
and remembering what she had seen, she shrieked again, and fell into
another swoon.

"What is to be done now?" asked the husband. "What shall I tell her?
How shall I make her understand? What can I do for her?"

As for help, there was none: the nurse was gone on some errand; the
doctor was arranging for the funeral of Oxbye under the name of Lord
Harry Norland; the cottage was empty.

Such a fainting fit does not last for ever. Iris came round, and sat
up, looking wildly around.

"What is it?" she cried. "What does it mean?"

"It means, my love, that you have returned to your husband." He laid an
arm round her, and kissed her again and again.

"You are my Harry!--living!--my own Harry?"

"Your own Harry, my darling. What else should I be?"

"Tell me then, what does it mean--that picture--that horrid
photograph?"

"That means nothing--nothing--a freak--a joke of the doctor's. What
could it mean?" He took it up. "Why, my dear, I am living--living and
well. What should this mean but a joke?"