was a man much occupied with great affairs, while the
Cadwaladers, except for their many griefs and misfortunes, were regarded
as comparatively insignificant people, unless we except Felix, who from
his earliest childhood had made himself feared even by grown people,
though he never showed a harsh spirit or exceeded the bounds of decorum
in speech or gesture. A year ago news came to Montgomery of Amos
Cadwalader's death, but no particulars concerning his family or burial
place. And that is all I have been able to glean concerning the
Cadwaladers."

Mr. Gryce had again become thoughtful.

"Have you any reason to believe that Evelyn's death was not a natural
one?"

"No, sir. I interviewed the old mother of the young man who shot himself
out of grief at Evelyn's approaching death, and if any doubt had existed
concerning a matter which had driven her son to a violent end, she could
not have concealed it from me. But there seemed to have been none.
Evelyn Cadwalader was always of delicate health, and when a quick
consumption carried her off no one marvelled. Her lover, who adored her,
simply could not live without her, so he shot himself. There was no
mystery about the tragic occurrence except that it seemed to sever an
old friendship that once was firm as a rock. I allude to that between
the Poindexters and Cadwaladers."

"Yet in this tragedy which has just occurred in ---- Street we see them
brought together again. Thomas Adams marries Eva Poindexter. But who is
Thomas Adams? You have not mentioned him in this history."

"Not unless he was the child who was held aloft over Evelyn's grave."

"Humph! That seems rather far-fetched. What did you learn about him in
Montgomery? Is he known there?"

"As well as any stranger can be who spends his time in courting a young
girl. He came to Montgomery a few months ago, from some foreign
city--Paris, I think--and, being gifted with every personal charm
calculated to please a cultivated young woman, speedily won the
affections of Eva Poindexter, and also the esteem of her father. But
their favorable opinion is not shared by every one in the town. There
are those who have a good deal to say about his anxious and unsettled
eye."

"Naturally; he could not marry all their daughters. But this history you
have given me: it is meagre, Sweetwater, and while it hints at something
deeply tragic, does not supply the key we want. A girl who died some
thirty years ago! A father who disapp