found out."

The next letter was dated May 7, 1859, on black-edged paper, and
contained but these lines: "I was much comforted by your kind visit
yesterday, dear Marquis. My affliction has been heavy: but for the last
two years my poor husband's conduct has rendered my life unhappy, and I
am recovering the shock of his sudden death. It is true that I and the
children are left very ill provided for; but I cannot accept your
generous offer of aid. Have no fear as to my future fate. Adieu, my
dear Marquis! This will reach you just before you start for Naples. _Bon
voyage_." There was no address on this note-no postmark on the envelope-
evidently sent by hand.

The last note, dated 1861, March 20, was briefer than its predecessor.
"I have taken your advice, dear Marquis; and, overcoming all scruples, I
have accepted his kind offer, on the condition that I am never to be
taken to England. I had no option in this marriage. I can now own to
you that my poverty had become urgent.--Yours, with inalienable
gratitude. This last note, too, was without postmark, and was evidently
sent by hand.

"There are no other letters, then, from this writer?" asked Graham; "and
no further clue as to her existence?"

"None that I have discovered; and I see now why I preserved these
letters. There is nothing in their contents not creditable to my poor
father. They show how capable he was of good-natured disinterested
kindness towards even a distant relation of whom he could certainly not
have been proud, judging not only by his own pencilled note, or by the
writer's condition as a governess, but by her loose sentiments as to the