into the open air. A burst of rosy sunlight greeted me. "Ah!"
thought I, "if I have been indulging in visions, this will dispel
them"; and I quaffed deeply and long of the fresh and glowing
atmosphere before allowing my thoughts to return for an instant to
the strange and harrowing experiences I had just been through. A
sense of rising courage and renewed power rewarded me; and blessing
the Providence that had granted us a morning of sunshine after a
night of so much horror, I sat down and drew from my breast the
little folded paper which represented my poor Ada's will. Opening it
with all the reverent love which I felt for her memory, I set myself
to decipher the few trembling lines which she had written, in the
hope they would steady my thoughts and suggest, if not reveal, the
way I should take in the more than difficult path I saw stretching
before me.

My agitation may be conceived when I read the following:

"It is my last wish that all my personal effects, together with the
sum of five hundred dollars, now credited to my name in the First
National Bank of S----, should be given to my friend, Constance
Sterling, who I hope will not forget the promise I exacted from
her."

Five hundred dollars! and yesterday I had nothing. Ah, yes, I had
_a friend!_

The thoughts awakened by this touching memorial from the innocent
dead distracted me for a few moments from further consideration of
present difficulties, but soon the very nature of the bequest
recalled them to my mind, by that allusion to a promise which more