d a blanched face she spread open the sheet. A
nameless dread possessed her. A letter about Eddie--not from him--and
from a surgeon! For a moment darkness seemed to descend upon her and she
could not make out the characters before her. She pressed her hand upon
her heart. In sudden alarm, her husband rushed to a celaret nearby and
brought out a decanter of wine. Pouring a glass he pressed it to her
lips.

"Eddie," she gasped, as soon as she could speak. "Is he well?"

In spite of John Allan's anxiety, he was irritated, and showed it.

"Pshaw, Frances!" he exclaimed. "I hoped you had forgotten the boy. Yes,
he's well, and, I'm glad to say, in a place where he is made to behave."

She calmed herself with an effort and began to read the letter. The
story it told had a smack of romance.

Dr. Archer had (he wrote) been called to the hospital in the fort to
see a private soldier by the name of Edgar A. Perry, who was down with
fever. The patient spoke but little but the Doctor was struck with his
marked refinement of look and manner, and there was something familiar
to him about the prominent brow and full grey eyes, though the name was
strange to him. His attention was aroused and he could not rid himself
of the impression that he had seen the young man before. He mentioned
the fact to some of the officers and found at once that his patient was
a subject of deep interest to them. They felt sure (they told him) that
he had a story. His polished manners and bright and cultivated
conversation seemed to them incongruous with the duties of a private
soldier, and they laughingly said that they suspected they were
entertaining an angel unawares. Yet his duties were performed with the
utmost faithfulness and efficiency. He had never been heard to speak of
himself or his past in a way which would throw any light upon his
history, and his reserve was of the kind which was bound to be
respected. Dr. Archer had grown (he wrote) more and more interested in
his patient as he became better acquainted with him, and being convinced
that the young man had for some reason, gotten out of his proper sphere,
he determined to try and help him back to it.

By the time the young soldier was convalescent the Doctor had won his
confidence and obtained from him the confession that the name of Perry
was an assumed one, and that he was none other than Mr. Allan's adopted
son, Edgar Poe, whom Dr. Archer had not seen since he was a small boy.

The d