scovered by him in this last effort to escape from the horrible
thralldom in which she was held.

Several weeks rolled away--weeks of sickening doubts and harrowing
fears; but, at length, the hour of her rescue came. One morning, shortly
after Reardon had left the house, a carriage stopped before the door,
containing an elderly lady and gentleman, who inquired for Alice. It was
her uncle and his wife, and after hearing her story he instantly removed
her to his hotel, from whence in another hour they started for his
residence in the interior of the State, thus eluding all chances of
discovery by Reardon.

It was a mere chance that the advertisement had reached Mr. Crawford.
When it did, he lost no time in seeking his brother's daughter, and
offering her his protection. Alice felt assured that I would follow her,
and she yearned to behold me once more, before her eyes closed forever
in this world. Yes, she was dying of a broken heart, while I madly
plowed the ocean in pursuit of her destroyer. The ship was detained by
long calms, and I bowed in abject supplication to the God of the storm,
to send us wind that might waft me to the land I so ardently desired to
behold. At last, haggard from intense suffering, and half-maddened with
the fever of my mind, I stood upon the sod of the New World.

I at once sought out the post-office, for I knew if still living, Alice
would there have deposited a clew to her abode. I found a letter from
her uncle directing me to his residence, and the last words sent a cold
and sickening thrill through my soul: "Come as soon as this reaches you,
if you would find Alice alive; her only desire is now to behold you," he
wrote. The letter bore the date of the previous month. If I could but
see her again, I felt that I could resign her; but to behold no more the
being who had become so knit to my very existence; to find the grave
closed over that form of unequaled beauty, was a thought which made my
brain whirl and my blood grow cold. I learned the route to----, near
which place was Mr. Crawford's residence. I took my seat in the first
stage-coach which left for that town, and was borne toward my dying
Alice. I can not tell you how the day and night which I spent on the
road passed. I know that my mind was not perfectly clear; but one idea
filled it: Alice, dead or dying, and I condemned to live forever alone.
In this wide and breathing world, so filled with human aspirations and
human hopes, I fel