A Mysterious Adventure.


Several weeks passed without changing in any way the position or
employment of Dodger or Florence.

They had settled down to their respective forms of labor, and were
able not only to pay their modest expenses, but to save up something
for a rainy day.

Florence had but one source of regret.

She enjoyed her work, and did not now lament the luxurious home which
she had lost.

But she did feel sore at heart that her uncle made no sign of regret
for their separation.

From him she received no message of forgiveness or reconciliation.

"He has forgotten me!" she said to herself, bitterly. "He has cast me
utterly out of his heart. I do not care for his money, but I do not
like to think that my kind uncle--for he was always kind till the last
trouble--has steeled his heart against me forever."

But she learned through a chance meeting with Jane, that this was not
so.

"Mr. Linden is getting very nervous and low-spirited," said the girl,
"and sits hour after hour in the library looking into the fire,