solicitous.
"These do not read like the letters of a villain," Abner thought, a
momentary gleam of hope penetrating the thick gloom; "but then, the
evidence to the contrary is conclusive. I must not allow myself to
hope. I do not wonder, though, that my poor mother was deceived; for
such words as these would mislead any simple, trusting heart like hers.
He did love her, I suppose, as well as his craven, selfish nature would
admit of his loving any one."

The last letter in the package gave the young man, alone in the low
attic room, a shock of amazement. It was dated "Chestnut Hall, February
1, 1782," and was signed, "Your affectionate cousin, Sarah." It stated
that the writer had returned to Chestnut Hall, after the death of the
faithful Myra, and that she was now living alone with the negro
attendants, in the home of her childhood; that she was betrothed to a
man who held the rank of major in the Continental army. This man, she
wrote, had been badly wounded the spring before in a skirmish with
Arnold's raiders, near her home. He had been carried to the Hall, and
she had nursed him back to complete recovery; and he was now in
Kentucky looking for a suitable location for their future home. He
intended to return in the course of a year, marry her, and remove to
the new home across the mountains. The name of this man was Hiram
Gilcrest. The letter likewise said that Major Gilcrest knew her to be a
widow Logan, whose husband had fallen in battle, but that she had told
her future husband none of the miserable details of her connection with
John Logan except that he had treated her with great cruelty. She had
extracted a promise from Major Gilcrest that no one in their new home
in Kentucky should know that she had been a widow, and in order that
this fact of her widowhood might the more easily be concealed, she had
induced him to agree that if ever the question arose as to her maiden
name, it was to be given as Jane Temple. Another motive, Sarah wrote,
for this change of name from Pepper to Temple, was in order to prevent
anybody knowing of her relationship to Fletcher Pepper, who had
rendered the name of Pepper odious to all who had ever heard it, by his
desertion of the patriot army to join the traitor Arnold.

[Illustration:

GENEALOGICAL TABLE

Showing Abner Logan's and Mrs. Gilcrest's Claims
to Andrew Hite's Estate

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