r. Lamar and others, had, as we have seen, passed
from the mind of Markland. He was entirely satisfied that the
individual seen by these men was Mr. Willet. But since the refusal
of Brainard, regarded as one of the shrewdest men in the city, to
enter into a speculation to him so full of promise, he did not feel
altogether easy in mind. He had spoken more from impulse than sound
judgment, when he declared it to be his purpose to risk forty
thousand dollars in the scheme, instead of twenty thousand. A cooler
state left room for doubts. What did he really know of Mr. Lyon, on
whose discretion, as an agent, so much would depend? The question
intruded itself, like an unwelcome guest; and his effort to answer
it to his own satisfaction was in vain. Had he been in possession of
his daughter's secret, all would have been plain before him. Not for
an instant would he have hesitated about keeping faith with a man
who could so deceive him.

"I must see Mr. Fenwick again," he said, in his perplexity, after
leaving the office of Mr. Brainard.

"Forty thousand dollars is a large sum to invest; and I shall have
to sell some of my best property to raise it property yearly
increasing in value. Twenty thousand I could have managed by parting
with stocks. What folly in Brainard! I'm sadly out with him. Yes, I
must see Mr. Fenwick immediately."

In the next train that left for New York, Mr. Markland was a
passenger. A hurried note, received by his family that evening,
announced the fact of his journey, and threw a deeper shadow on the
heart of his troubled wife.

Vainly had Mrs. Markland striven to gain the unreserved confidence
of Fanny. The daughter's lips were sealed. Pressing importunity
plainly wrought something akin to estrangement; and so, with tears
in her eyes and anguish in her heart, the mother turned from her
pale-faced child, and left her alone. An hour after being surprised
by her mother at the Fountain Grove, Fanny glided into her own room,
and turned the key. The letter of Mr. Lyon was still in her bosom,
and now, with eager hands, she drew it forth, and read to the end--

--"Beloved one! How often have I blessed the kind Providence that
led me into your presence. How strange are these things! For years I
have moved amid a blaze of beauty, and coldly turned away from a
thousand glittering attractions. But, when my eyes first saw you,
there was a pause in my heart's pulsations. I felt that my soul's
companion was di