truly, BENJAMIN BOLTON, 182 Nassau Street, New York.

The letter written to Ernest ran thus:

ERNEST RAY, OREVILLE, CALIFORNIA:

I have for some time been seeking to find you. Finally, in response to
an advertisement inserted in a St. Louis daily paper, I learn that you
are at present living in Oreville, California. This information was
given me by one Thomas Burns, who is employed at the Planters Hotel.
The name is, I hope, familiar to you. It is very desirable that I
should have an interview with you. If you are the son of Dudley Ray,
formerly residing at or near Elmira, what I have to say will be
greatly to your advantage.

Will you write me at once, letting me know whether this is the case?
Also, state your present circumstances, and whether you need pecuniary
help. It is unfortunate that we are so far apart. I am connected with
a New York legal firm, and can not very well go to California, but I
might assist you to come to New York if, as I suppose, your means are
limited. Will you write to me at once whether this is the case? I
shall anxiously await your reply.

BENJAMIN BOLTON, Attorney-at-law, 182 Nassau Street, New York City.

Ernest read this letter with eager interest, and showed it to Luke
Robbins.

"What do you think of it, Luke?" he asked.

"What do I think of it? It looks very much as if you were entitled to
some money."

"What shall I do?"

"Write this Mr. Bolton that you will go at once to New York, and call
upon him."

"But how about the store? I should not like to leave Mr. Ames in the
lurch."

"I will take your place here, and in order to qualify myself for it, I
will come in to morrow and begin to serve an apprenticeship."

Ernest wrote to Bolton that he would start for New York in a week. He
added that he had the money necessary for the journey. He said also
that he was the son of Dudley Ray, and that he remembered visiting
Elmira with his father.

When Bolton received this letter he exclaimed, triumphantly, "Now,
Stephen Ray, I have you on the hip. You looked down upon me when I
called upon you. In your pride and your unjust possession of wealth
you thought me beneath your notice. Unless I am greatly mistaken, I
shall be the instrument under Providence of taking from you your
ill-gotten gains, and carrying out the wishes expressed in the last
will of your deceased uncle."

CHAPTER XXXIV.

A STRANGE MEETING.

Ernest left Oreville with four hundred dollars in his pocket