nd
before darkness had set in, the burial garment was completed, and the
body of Ella was enclosed in the last robe she would wear on earth.

The body of the dead child looked beautiful. The snowy folds of the
dress were looped up with the orange blossoms which Mrs. Wentworth had
restored to their natural beauty. On her cold, yet lovely brow, a
wreath of the same flowers was placed, while in her hand was placed a
tiny ivory cross, that Ella had worn around her neck while living. The
transformation was complete. The dress of the young and blooming bride
had become the habiliments of the dead child, and the orange blossoms
that rested on its folds and on the brow of Ella, were not more
emblematical for the dead than they had been for the living.

"Oh! how pretty sister looks," exclaimed the little boy, who could not
comprehend why the dead body lie so motionless and stiff. "Wake her
up, mother," he continued, "she looks so pretty that I want her to
stand up and see herself."

Mrs. Wentworth smiled sorrowfully at her son's remarks, but she did
not remove her features from the dead. The saint-like expression of
her child, and the placid and beautiful face that lay before her
devoid of animation, had awoke the benumbed feelings of affection
within her. A bright light flashed across her brain, and the long pent
up tears, were about to flow, when the door was widely opened, and a
dark shadow spread itself over the body of Ella. Checking her emotion,
Mrs. Wentworth looked around and beheld the figure of Mr. Swartz,
accompanied by two police officers.

She spoke not a word at first, for in an instant the cause of his
visit was known. One look she gave him, which sunk into the inmost
depths of his soul; then turning to the dead child, she slowly
extended her hand and pointed to it.

"There," she said at last. "Look there," and her face again wore its
former colorless and rigid aspect.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND.

IMPRISONMENT OF THE SOLDIER'S WIFE.

We must now take a glance back at the time that Mrs. Wentworth
committed her act of despair in taking the package of money from the
safe. Mr. Swartz, as we stated, was then gazing intently at the open
pages of his ledger, and, in her leaving the room hurriedly, did not
take any other notice of her, than mere glance. He then resumed his
calculations, nor did he rise from his seat for nearly three hours
afterwards, so intent was he on the books before him. Rising up at
la