d; so that in a little while we had a cosy
home of our own, and envied no one their riches.

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, your grandparents, were very proud, and left
Staunton, rather than stay where their daughter had disgraced them, and
we never knew where they went to, or whether they are still living or
not. Two years went by, and in that time I sent many a loving, anxious
thought to Florence, where ever she was, and wondered if we were ever to
meet again; and one night my answer came to me. It was a bitter night,
snowing hard and blowing fiercely. Papa and I, were sitting in our cosy,
warm room, and Bea was sleeping, rosy and sweet, in her little crib,
when there came the feeblest kind of a ring at the door-bell, and papa
went to the door. In just a second he called me, and I hurried there, to
find him holding a basket, with a queer bundle in it, and looking
amazed out into the night; then he set it down suddenly, and hurried
out. I had not collected my thoughts, when he came in again with a
fainting figure in his arms; a woman with a face uncovered, and we both
recognized her in an instant. She was nearly dead with exposure, and it
was a long time before she was able to speak a word, but we doctored her
strongly, got her into a hot bed, and after a while she opened her eyes,
and knew us. When she could talk, she told us how unhappy she had been;
how, after submitting to her husband's neglect and the trials of stage
life, for over a year, she had left him, and as soon as her baby was
born, began looking for us. She was very feeble, and after leaving her
burden on the steps, fainted in the snow before reaching the gate."

Here Ernestine, who had lain motionless all the while, gave a quick sob,
and shivered from head to foot, and bending down to kiss her tenderly,
Mrs. Dering went on:

"She died with us, dear, in just a few days after, and with her last
breath, gave you to me; and ever since I took you, a tiny, little babe
from her arms, you have been just as dear to me as though God had sent
you to me, my very own."

Ernestine was shivering violently, and as Mrs. Dering finished, hid her
face deeper in the pillow with a pitiful heart-broken moan, that was
hard to hear, and Mrs. Dering said softly:

"Here, darling, in this box are some things that were to belong to you,
in case you ever knew the truth, though with her last breath, your
mother besought us to keep it from you, if we could, and we have tried,
that being