man or woman who longs to injure you. I may add that absolute proof
accompanies every assertion which my packet contains. Keep it carefully,
as long as you live--and God grant you may never have occasion to break
the seal.'

"Such was the inscription; copied exactly, word for word.

"I cannot even guess who my mother's devoted friend may have been.
Neither can I doubt that she would have destroyed the packet, but for the
circumstance of her sudden death.

"After hesitating a little--I hardly know why--I summoned my resolution,
and broke the seal. Of the horror with which I read the contents of the
packet I shall say nothing. Who ever yet sympathized with the sorrows and
sufferings of strangers? Let me merely announce that I knew my ancestors
at last, and that I am now able to present them in their true characters,
as follows:

V

"My grandfather was tried on a charge of committing willful murder--was
found guilty on the clearest evidence--and died on the scaffold by the
hangman's hands.

"His two sons abandoned the family name, and left the family residence.
They were, nevertheless, not unworthy representatives of their atrocious
father, as will presently appear.

"My uncle (a captain in the Army) was discovered at the hazard table,
playing with loaded dice. Before this abject scoundrel could be turned