self against the
possibility of any such catastrophe. But if, indeed, the suspicions of
her cousin were the offspring, not only of hatred, but of knowledge; if
that face of beauty was in truth only a mask, and Eleanore Leavenworth
was what the words of her cousin, and her own after behavior would seem
to imply, how could I bear to sit there and see the frightful serpent of
deceit and sin evolve itself from the bosom of this white rose! And yet,
such is the fascination of uncertainty that, although I saw something
of my own feelings reflected in the countenances of many about me, not a
man in all that assemblage showed any disposition to depart, I least of
all.

The coroner, upon whom the blonde loveliness of Mary had impressed
itself to Eleanor's apparent detriment, was the only one in the room
who showed himself unaffected at this moment. Turning toward the witness
with a look which, while respectful, had a touch of austerity in it, he
began:

"You have been an intimate of Mr. Leavenworth's family from childhood,
they tell me, Miss Leavenworth?"

"From my tenth year," was her quiet reply.

It was the first time I had heard her voice, and it surprised me; it
was so like, and yet so unlike, that of her cousin. Similar in tone, it
lacked its expressiveness, if I may so speak; sounding without vibration
on the ear, and ceasing without an echo.

"Since that time you have been treated like a daughter, they tell me?"

"Yes, sir, like a daughter, indeed; he was more than a father to both of
us."

"You and Miss Mary Leavenworth are cousins, I believe. When did she
enter the family?"

"At the same time I did. Our respective parents were victims of the same
disaster. If it had not been for our uncle, we should have been thrown,
children as we were, upon the world. But he"--here she paused, her
firm lips breaking into a half tremble--"but he, in the goodness of his
heart, adopted us into his family, and gave us what we had both lost, a
father and a home."

"You say he was a father to you as well as to your cousin--that he
adopted you. Do you mean by that, that he not only surrounded you with
present luxury, but gave you to understand that the same should be
secured to you after his death; in short, that he intended to leave any
portion of his property to you?"

"No, sir; I was given to understand, from the first, that his property
would be bequeathed by will to my cousin."

"Your cousin was no more nearly related to