d she would not be
seen by Dr. Browne.

Two months passed, and Juliet had recovered her usual composure, if
composure can be used in connection with so unrestful a creature.

And now came a letter from the hand of a stranger, bearing news of the
sudden death by apoplexy of Captain St. Leger.

This was indeed unexpected, and created in the family a much greater
sensation than had the death of the mother.

The Van Rensaleers and the Langs began to inquire about the condition of
the property. Without consulting Mr. Temple, the husbands of Leonora and
Estelle sailed at once for China.

Juliet's anxiety about her share of the estate somewhat modified her
grief in this instance. She had but slightly known her father; he had
been home but seldom, and for brief visits. He was an austere man, very
fine-looking, but silent and undemonstrative. She should not miss him so
much, still his death was such a shock--as she was fond of repeating to
her friends; she should never recover from the effects of two such
terrific shocks.

So selfish in her grief was Juliet, nobody's sorrow had ever been like
unto her own. Whereas, had she only stopped to consider, had she been a
Christian instead of a heathen, a woman instead of a child, she would
have borne silently this affliction as a necessary dispensation of
Providence; she would have bowed her heart humbly before God, kissing
the hand that had chastened her, thankful that those nearer and dearer
had been left unto her.

The two elder brothers-in-law in due time returned from their mission
with the doleful intelligence that the late Captain St. Leger had died
insolvent, so far as his foreign wealth was concerned. They swore in
open court, for Mr. Temple summoned them to appear and obliged them to
take oath, that they received not sufficient from the assets to defray
the expenses of their voyage.

Of this Juliet was disposed to believe not a word. Her brothers-in-law
had ever been ill-disposed toward her because she married for love, and
looked down on Temple because he had industriously labored for his
wealth instead of having received it, like themselves, from dishonest or
thrifty grandfathers. She believed they had connived together to enrich
themselves at her expense.

Here, then, was another ground for anxiety. She begged Mr. Temple to
institute legal proceedings, and have the matter thoroughly sifted. Mr.
Temple liked no man to believe he was to be tamely cheated, and was a