r.

"What! what!" she cried, as she stared at the inclosure; "is this a
jest?"

UNION TRUST CO., NEW YORK.

MADAME:--We have the honor to hold at your disposal the
following registered United States bonds, in all amounting
to ----.

The sum was a great fortune. The Trust Company was known to her, even
its president's signature.

"What's the matter, mamma," cried Alice, amazed at the unusual look
the calm mother's face wore as she arose from the bed, while the
great pearls tumbled over and lay on the sunlit floor, and the fairy
letter fell unheeded. Her thoughts were away in the desert of her past
life.

"And here, I forgot," said Hugh, "Mr. Khwis did write you a letter."

"Quick," she cried. "Give it to me." She opened it with fierce
eagerness. Then she said, "Go away, leave me alone. Yes, yes, I will
talk to you by and by. Go now." And she drove the astonished children
from the room and sat down with her letter.

"DEAR ALICE:--Shall I say wife? I promised to come no more
until you asked me to come. I can stand it no longer. I came
only meaning to see the dear home, and to send you and my
dear children a remembrance, but I--You know the rest. If in
those dark days the mother care and fear instinctively set
aside what little love was left for me I do not now wonder.
Was it well, or ill, what you did when you bid me go? In
God's time I have learned to think it well. That hour is to
me now like a blurred dream. To-day I can bless the anger
and the sense of duty to our children which drove me
forth--too debased a thing to realize my loss. I have won
again my self-control, thank God! am a man once more. You
have, have always had, my love. You have to-day again a
dozen times the fortune I meanly squandered. I shall never
touch it; it is yours and your children's. And now, Alice,
is all love dead for me? And is it Yes or No? And shall I
be always to my little ones Kris, and to-night a mysterious
memory, or shall I be once more

YOUR HUGH?

"A letter to the bank will find me."

As she read, the quick tears came aflood. She turned to her desk and
wrote in tremulous haste, "Come, come at once," and ringing for the
maid, sent it off to the address he gave. The next morning she dressed
with unusual care. At the sound of the whistle of the train she went
down to