wood had shown a hundredth part of
his courage"--

"There, there, daughter," protested her father, as they seated themselves
at the table, "a truce to all that; let us leave him out of the
conversation."

"And, if you please, drop the whole thing," added Tom, who began to feel
uncomfortable under it all.

"Since it will be more agreeable to you, we will do so," was the hearty
remark of the head of the family, as all began "discussing," as the
expression goes, the feast before them. "I will say, however, that Jennie
did meet with one experience, in which her rescuer showed possibly more
pluck than Mr. Gordon to-day."

The guest looked inquiringly at his host.

"She seems to be destined to be concerned in unpleasant adventures."

"Yes; I hope this is the last of them. What I refer to happened some five
or six years ago,--possibly more than that. At any rate, she was a small
girl, crossing the ferry at New York with her mother, when in the crowd
and crush, by some means which I never could understand, she fell
overboard. The river was full of floating ice, and she would have been
drowned but for the heroism of a boy, who sprang in after her, and, at the
risk of his own life, kept her afloat until both could be drawn on board."

Tom Gordon felt his face turning scarlet. He was so disturbed for the
moment that he could not frame any words. He could only look at his
employer and listen. In that moment there flashed upon him the explanation
of a little mystery which had troubled him for months.

The first time he looked into the face of Jennie Warmore, the suspicion
came to him that somewhere and at some time, under far different
circumstances, he had met her. When sitting at her side in the dog-cart
that afternoon, this suspicion became a certainty. He strove to account
for it on the theory that it was one of those accidental resemblances
which all of us have met in our experience; but he could not make himself
believe it to be the fact.

Strange that he never thought of associating her with that memorable
incident in his own life! He had sacredly preserved the chain and
likeness; and it was the similarity between the latter and the budding
young lady that caused the perplexity in his mind. He wondered that he had
not hit upon the explanation before it was flung in his face, as may be
said.

By the time Mrs. Warmore had added her account to that of her husband, Tom
had regained mastery of himself.

"And who was