nly
idle fancies, the dotings of an over-anxious father. I feel, as the
sands of life are fast ebbing out, that some great calamity is
lowering over you. I know not that a remark I accidentally
overheard should thus haunt me; but it has roused my suspicions,
and the presage of calamity will not depart from me. I cannot, with
the warning voice ever ringing in my mind, help taking steps to
guard you against the worst that may befall you.

"My dear child, if I should disclose my suspicions, and they should
prove unreasonable, I shall have done a grievous wrong to him I
suspect. Although you cannot save me from the misery of doubting in
my last hour, you can save me from injuring another in your good
opinion. If I have wronged him, let the injury die with me. If my
suspicions are not groundless, I offer you the means of saving
yourself from the calamity that impends.

"Should any event occur after my death which deprives you of any of
your inheritance, follow the directions I now give you.

"In the back of the lower drawer of the secretary you will find a
secret aperture. The back of the drawer is a thick board, upon
which is screwed, on the lower side, a thin slat. Take out the
screws and remove the piece they secure, and the aperture will be
seen. It contains a sealed packet, the contents of which require no
explanation.

"If nothing happens after my decease, and you peaceably obtain all
your rights, burn the packet without opening it. My unjust
suspicions, then, cannot influence you, or injure the person to
whom they refer.

"This letter you will receive from Mr. Faxon, to whom I recommend
you for counsel and consolation in every trial.

"And now, my child, I must bid you farewell. I feel my end
approaching. May God forever bless and preserve you!

"Your dying father,

"EDGAR DUMONT."

Dalhousie perused and re-perused this letter, until its contents were
fixed in his mind. He had many doubts and scruples, both prudential and
conscientious, in regard to the step he was about to take: but the
chimera of fortune prompted him to risk all in the great project he had
matured. Taking from his pocket a small screw-driver, with which he had
prepared himself, he opened the drawer designated in the letter, the key
of which he had secured. Emptying the drawer of it