exclaimed--

"Grey! Grey! Electra Grey; and so like Robert? Oh! it must be so. Child,
who are you? Where are your parents?"

She approached and put her hand on the girl's shoulders, while a hopeful
light kindled in her eyes.

"I am an orphan, madam, from the South. My father died before my birth, my
mother immediately after."

"Was your father's name Robert? Where was he from?"

"His name was Enoch R. Gray. I don't know what his middle name was. He came
originally from Pennsylvania, I believe."

"Oh! I knew that I could not be mistaken! My brother's child! Robert's
child!"

She threw her arms around the astonished girl, and strained her to her
heart.

"There must be some mistake, madam. I never heard that I had relatives in
New York."

"Oh! child! call me aunt! I am your father's sister. We called him by his
middle name, Robert, and for eighteen years have heard nothing of him. Sit
down here, and let me tell you the circumstances. Your father was the
youngest of three children, and in his youth gave us great distress by his
wildness; he ran away from college and went to sea. After an absence of
three years he returned, almost a wreck of his former self. My mother had
died during his long voyage to the South Sea Islands, and father, who
believed him to have been the remote cause of her death (for her health
failed soon after he left), upbraided him most harshly and unwisely. His
reproaches drove poor Robert to desperation, and without giving us any
clue, he left home as suddenly as before. Whither he went we never knew.
Father was so incensed that he entirely disinherited him; but at his death,
when the estate was divided, my brother William and I decided that we would
take only what we considered our proportion, and we set apart one-third for
Robert. We advertised for several years, and could hear nothing of him; and
at the end of the fifth year, William divided that remaining third. Oh, my
dear child! I am so glad to find you out. But where have you been all this
time? Where did Robert die?"

She held the orphan's hand, and made no attempt to conceal the tears that
rolled over her cheeks. Electra gave her a detailed account of her life
from the time when she was taken to her uncle, Mr. Aubrey, at the age of
four months, till the death of her aunt and her removal to New York.

"And Robert's child has been in want, while we knew not of her existence!
Oh, Electra! you shall have no more sorrow that we can sh