stination, and had the
telegraph-wires been in successful operation he would have hazarded
the experiment of requesting her arrest at the terminus of the
railway; but this was impracticable, and each succeeding hour aided
in obliterating the only clue in his possession.

The universal observation of man, ages ago, simmered down and
crystallized into the adage, "Misfortunes never come singly;" and it
is here respectfully submitted--that startling episodes, unexpected
incidents quite as rarely travel alone. Do surprises gravitate into
groups, or are certain facts binary?

Sometimes for a quarter of a century the sluggish stream of life
oozes by, bearing no hint of deeds, or faces,--that perchance shed
glory, or perhaps lent gloom to the far past,--a past well-nigh
forgotten and inurned in the gathering grey of time,--and suddenly
without premonition, the slow monotonous current ripples and swells
into waves that bear to our feet fateful countenances, unwelcome as
grave-ghouls,--and the world grows garrulous of incidents that once
more galvanize the shrouded Bygone. For four years the minister had
received no tidings of those whom he had so reluctantly joined in the
bonds of wedlock, and not even a reminiscence of that singular bridal
party had floated into his quiet parsonage study; but within
twenty-four hours he seemed destined to garner a plentiful harvest of
disagreeable data for future speculation. He had not yet reached his
lawyer's office, when, hearing his name pronounced vociferously, Dr.
Hargrove looked around and saw the postmaster standing in his door
and calling on him to enter.

"Pardon me, my dear sir, for shouting after you so unceremoniously;
but I saw you were not coming in, and knew it would promote your
interest to pay me a visit. Fine day at last, after all the rain and
murky weather. This crisp, frosty air sharpens one's wits,--a sort of
atmospheric pumice, don't you see, and tempts me to drive a good
bargain. How much will you give for a letter that has travelled half
around the world, and had as many adventures as Robinson Crusoe, or
Madame Pfeiffer?"

He took from a drawer a dingy and much-defaced envelope, whose
address was rather indistinct from having encountered a oath on its
journey.

"Are you sure that it is for me?" asked the minister, trying to
decipher the uncertain characters.

"Are there two of your name? This is intended for Reverend Peyton
Hargrove of St. ---- Church -- V----