her
package, and, removing the wrapper, she laid before him a little book
about eight inches square and comprising some twenty or thirty pages.

It was composed of half sheets of the heaviest and nicest of unruled
paper, tied together in three places with beautiful little cords and
tassels of pale-blue silk.

On the cover, in a lovely design composed of mountain ferns, most
exquisitely executed, there was written, in a dainty hand, the
title--"Gleanings from the Heights."

The gentleman uttered a low exclamation of pleasure as his eye fell upon
this.

His attention was riveted; there was no indifference in his manner now.

Chapter XXIII.

A Mysterious Stranger.

"Did you do this?" Mr. Knight, the publisher, asked, looking up after a
close examination of the dainty cover.

"Yes, sir," Virgie answered, with a quiet smile, and, seeing that she had
gained her point, that he would not leave it until he had seen the whole,
she sat down near him to await his verdict.

Page after page was turned and on each there was a lovely group of
mountain foliage, flowers, or ferns, all beautifully executed in pen and
ink, while underneath the design, or cunningly woven around it, was
written, in a dainty hand, some appropriate verse or couplet, quotations
from various authors, with now and then a bit of real heart rhyme that had
been the outgrowth of Virgie's own sad experiences.

Everything, as the title indicated, had been taken from the
mountains--from those heights where she had spent the last few years of
her life.

It had been her custom, after gathering the wild, beautiful things, to
carefully arrange them and then copy them upon paper.

This amusement had served to pass away many an otherwise tedious hour, and
she had a portfolio full of these charming designs, which were likely to
prove of great value to her in the future, as we shall see.

Mr. Knight took ample time for his examination of her work, so much,
indeed, that Virgie began to grow weary and anxious to get back to her
little one.

But at last the gentleman leaned back in his chair, took off his
spectacles, and turned his keen, searching glance full upon his visitor's
face.

"Madam," he said, "it is not my custom to speak extravagantly upon any
subject; but I am bound to admit that this is the finest thing of its kind
that it has ever been my privilege to examine."

A beautiful color sprang into Virgie's cheeks at this high praise. She had