ed in a drawer of the
dressing-table, she took out several papers, some yellowed with age,
and blurred with tears, and while Regina still sat, with her arm
resting on the chair, Mrs. Orme locked the door, and began to walk
slowly up and down the room.

"One moment, mother. I want to know why my heart is drawn so steadily
and so powerfully toward Mr. Chesley, and why something in his face
reminds me tenderly of you? Are you quite willing to tell me why he
seems so deeply interested in me?"

"Regina, have you never guessed? Orme Chesley is my uncle, my
mother's only brother."

"Oh, how rejoiced I am! I hoped he was in some mysterious way related
to us, but I feared to lean too much upon the pleasant thought, lest
it proved a disappointment. My own uncle? What a blessing! Does Mr.
Palma know it?"

"Mr. Palma first suspected and traced the relationship, and it was
from him that Uncle Orme learned of my existence, for it appears he
believed me dead. Mr. Palma has long held all the tangled threads of
my miserable history in his skilful hands, and to his prudent,
patient care you and I shall owe our salvation. For years he has been
to me the truest, wisest, kindest friend a deserted and helpless
woman ever found."

Regina sank her head upon the chair, afraid that her radiant face
might betray the joy his praises kindled; and while she walked, Mrs.
Orme began her recital:

"My grandfather, Hubert Chesley, was from Alsace; my grandmother
originally belonged to the French family of Ormes. They had two
children, Orme the eldest, and Minetta, who while very young married
a travelling musician from Switzerland, named Leon Merle. A year
after she became his wife her father died, and the family resolved
to emigrate to America. On the voyage, which was upon a crowded
emigrant ship, I was born; and a few hours after my mother died.
They buried her at sea, and would to God I too had been thrown into
the waves, for then this tale of misery would never torture innocent
ears. But children who have only a heritage of woe, and ought to die,
fight for existence defying adversity, and thrive strangely; so I
lucklessly survived.

"My first recollections are of a pauper quarter in a large city,
where my father supported us scantily by teaching music. Subsequently
we removed to several villages, and finally settled in one where were
located a college for young gentlemen, and a seminary for girls. In
the latter my father was employed as