Then, turning her head slightly, she saw him, and there was no longer any question as to whether her mouth smiled, for all her face was flooded with deep, serene joy.
He bent towards her and her lips parted.
"Michael, my dear," she said gently.
Michael heard the rustle of the nurse's dress as she got up and came to the bedside.

He slipped from his chair on to his knees, so that his face was near his mother's.

He felt in his heart that the moment he had so longed for was to be granted him, that she had come back to him, not only as he had known her during the weeks that they had lived alone together, when his presence made her so content, but in a manner infinitely more real and more embracing.
"Have you been sitting here all the time while I slept, dear ?" she asked.

"Have you been waiting for me to come back to you ?" "Yes, and you have come," he said.
She looked at him, and the mother-love, which before had been veiled and clouded, came out with all the tender radiance of evening sun, with the clear shining after rain.
"I knew you wouldn't fail me, my darling," she said.

"You were so patient with me in the trouble I have been through.