being in a hurry to get home. Leaving the children under the
servant's care, she locked herself up in the dead man's room, and
emptied his trunk of the few clothes that had been left in it.

The lining which she was now to examine was of the customary
material, and of the usual striped pattern in blue and white. Her
fingers were not sufficiently sensitive to feel anything under
the surface, when she tried it with her hand. Turning the empty
trunk with the inner side of the lid toward the light, she
discovered, on one of the blue stripes of the lining, a thin
little shining stain which looked like a stain of dried gum.
After a moment's consideration, she cut the gummed line with a
penknife. Something of a white color appeared through the
aperture. She drew out a folded sheet of paper.

It proved to be a letter in her husband's hand-writing. An
inclosure dropped to the floor when she opened it, in the shape
of a small slip of paper. She picked it up. The morsel of paper
presented letters, figures, and crosses arranged in lines, and
mingled together in what looked like hopeless confusion.


3.--The Letter.


Mrs. Westerfield laid the incomprehensible slip of paper aside,
and, in search of an explanation, returned to the letter. Here
again she found herself in a state of perplexity. Directed to
"Mrs. Roderick Westerfield," the letter began abruptly, without
the customary form of address. Did it mean that her husband was