nd to his lips and kissed it. Then he resumed:

"I wrote two letters--one to you, explaining my motives for leaving, and
advising you not to repeat to any one the subject or substance of our
last interview, lest it should be misunderstood or misrepresented, and
should do you unmerited injury with an evil-thinking world--"

"Yes, Rule. See! See! I have that letter yet!" exclaimed Corona, hastily
unbuttoning the front of her bodice and pulling up the little black silk
bag which she wore next her heart, suspended from the silken cord around
her neck, and taking from it the old, yellow, broken paper which
contained the last lines he had written to her.

"You kept that all this time, dear?" he inquired, gently taking the
paper and looking at it.

"Yes. Why not? It was the last relic I possessed of you. And it has
never left me. I never showed it to a human being, because you did not
wish me to do so. But you said you had written two letters. To whom was
the other? We never heard of it."

Rothsay looked at her in surprise for a moment and answered:

"The other letter? Why, of course it was my letter of resignation."

"Then it was never found! Never! If it had been, it would have saved
much trouble. No one knew what had become of you, Rule. Not even I,
except that you had left me on account of that last conversation between
us, which you adjured me never to divulge. And oh! what amazement your
disappearance caused! and what conjectures as to your fate! Many thought
that you had been assassinated and your body sunk in the river. Oh,
Rule! Many others thought that you had been abducted by some political
enemy--as if any force could have carried you off, Rule!"

Rothsay laughed for the first time during the interview. Corona
continued:

"Advertisements were placed in all the papers, offering large rewards
for information that should lead to the discovery of your fate or
whereabouts, living or dead. And, oh! how many impostors came forward to
claim the money, with information that led to nothing at all. A sailor
returning from Rio de Janeiro swore that you had shipped as a man before
the mast and gone out with him, and that he had left you in the capital
of Brazil. A fur trader from Alaska reported you killing seals in that
territory. A returned miner swore that he had left you gold digging in
California. A New Bedford sailor made his affidavit that he had seen
you embark on a whaling ship for Baffin's Bay. These were the