my head, a line that caused me to cry like a baby.

"Thus year by year my resolve became stronger; I would find my mother,
I would seek the solution of the dreadful mystery that hangs over the
Craig home.

"My studies were done; I graduated at the head of the medical class and
spent a year under the most eminent professors at Heidelberg. When they
gave me my diploma, they wrote my father that I ought to have a year of
travel to improve my health before entering upon the life work to which
I am devoted.

"Of course my desire was granted, and I began the search. I have been six
months at it without success; it is like pursuing an _ignis fatuus_. A
clew would take me to Russia, whence I would fly to Persia, then to
Turkey, and next to London. In Paris I felt sure of success, but the
lady I was tracking turned out to be a grandmother, and there was a
lively scene in her house when I sprung my game.

"Talk of 'Japhet in search of his father!' why, he wasn't in it at all
compared with me. At last came another clew; among the letters forwarded
in a bunch from home was a line in the same precious hand. See, here it
is."

He takes out from a note-book a slip of paper; the writing is elegant
and feminine.

She reads:

"January 12th. Just twenty years to-day. Oh! Heaven! teach me to kiss