other was married
to Marshall Page, and both she and he died the following August."

"What of this Marshall Page, my stepfather?" asked Abner. "Where was he
from? Was he a man calculated to make my mother happy?"

"He was a brave, honest, hard-working fellow," acknowledged Richard,
"from Maryland; but he had only a limited education, and had not been
gently reared. I was not well pleased with the marriage; and had your
Aunt Frances lived, I do not think Mary would have married him. But as
I was a widower, and no blood relation to your mother, my house was
hardly any longer a suitable refuge for her and her babe. When she and
Marshall Page died the following summer, we--my second wife, Rachel,
and I--took you as our own. It was your mother's dying request that you
should, if possible, be spared all knowledge of her sad history, and be
reared as our own child."

"Nobly have you and Aunt Rachel tried to fulfill that dying request!"
said the young man in a choked voice and with tears in his eyes, as he
arose and threw his arm across his uncle's shoulder.

"And nobly have you repaid our love and care, my boy," the older man
answered huskily. "You have given us filial love and obedience, and
have never crossed our wishes in anything, except when you persisted in
going off to Kentucky, instead of staying here and becoming a lawyer.
But there! there! you were right, I dare say. You had no liking for a
legal profession, and that new country across the mountains is a better
place than this old, aristocratic State for a young, energetic fellow
who has nothing but his native ability and a good education to assist
him forward. So enough of these saddening recollections," he added in a
more cheerful tone, rising briskly and crossing the room to a table
whereon were scattered various papers. "Now for the business pertaining
to this fine fellow, Abner Dudley Logan, as he must be called in
future, I suppose, and who has just come into a rich inheritance."

"Of which inheritance," said Abner, joining his uncle at the table and
picking up one of the papers, "the most valuable part, I'm inclined to
think, will prove to be this Kentucky land. As for this Virginian
estate, I fear from what you tell me that I can realize very little
from it."

"That is true," agreed Richard. "Owing to the recklessness and
prodigality of Stephen Hite, and the neglect and mismanagement of Col.
Andrew Hite during the last ten years of his life, the estate