perceived that there was not going to be any peace for her until she

should devise a test that should prove, clearly and without question,

whether this lad was her son or not, and so banish these wearing and

worrying doubts. Ah, yes, this was plainly the right way out of the

difficulty; therefore she set her wits to work at once to contrive that

test. But it was an easier thing to propose than to accomplish. She

turned over in her mind one promising test after another, but was obliged

to relinquish them all--none of them were absolutely sure, absolutely

perfect; and an imperfect one could not satisfy her. Evidently she was

racking her head in vain--it seemed manifest that she must give the

matter up. While this depressing thought was passing through her mind,

her ear caught the regular breathing of the boy, and she knew he had

fallen asleep. And while she listened, the measured breathing was broken

by a soft, startled cry, such as one utters in a troubled dream. This

chance occurrence furnished her instantly with a plan worth all her

laboured tests combined. She at once set herself feverishly, but

noiselessly, to work to relight her candle, muttering to herself, "Had I

but seen him THEN, I should have known! Since that day, when he was

little, that the powder burst in his face, he hath never been startled of

a sudden out of his dreams or out of his thinkings, but he hath cast his

hand before his eyes, even as he did that day; and not as others would do

it, with the palm inward, but always with the palm turned outward--I have

seen it a hundred times, and it hath never varied nor ever failed. Yes,

I shall soon know, now!"

The Prince and The Pauper