Jane Gates's vision of her lover's return

Jane Gates, an 'old maid' living a lonely life, was mourning the loss of her lover from many years prior. While visiting a sacred place among old trees where they had once cut their names, Jane experienced a vivid manifestation or vision. She felt a presence, heard footsteps, and saw her lover, who appeared before her, alive and smiling, confirming his return to her after many years of misunderstanding regarding her marital status.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Susa Young Gates, 'The Vision Beautiful,' The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 16, no. 10 (October 1905), 543.):

She raises her eyes and he is there. He, of long ago, is smiling upon her. His hands are touching her hands, and his strong arms are folding her to his heart. The same loving eyes are looking down into hers. The same deep, tender voice is whispering, ‘I have come back, Jenny. I have come to be forgiven. They told me you were married and I believed. Now they say it was only Aunt Jane who was married. After all these years, I have come to you. And you have forgiven me, Jenny?’ She could not speak, but her soul went out to meet his in a long, silent embrace. The years of waiting, the years of loneliness, the years of heartache, all were forgotten in that one moment of supreme joy. He was hers, and she was his, and they were together at last.