see she certainly admires you very much. She evidently thinks you
are a genuine man. So, my dear friend, go in and win. And my girl shall
not miss her marriage portion," said Hartman, cordially.

Mr. Lyle was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at the turn the
conversation had taken, so he hastened to change it by saying:

"You told me that you had met them _both_ whom you never had expected to
see again in this world. One was Miss Cavendish, your 'heavenly vision;'
who was the other?"

"Can you be at a loss to know? There were but three young ladies
present. My own girl, whom I went to see and did expect to meet; Miss
Cavendish, whom you have just identified as one of the two alluded to,
and the brilliant little creature whom you introduced by a heathenish
sort of name which I have forgotten."

"Miss Electra?"

"Aye, that was the name; but however you call her, I knew her in Rat
Alley as Sal's Kid."

"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, stopping short and trying to gaze through
the darkness into the face of his companion; for Mr. Lyle had never
happened to hear of the strange vicissitudes of Electra's childhood.

"She is Sal's Kid, I do assure you. Her face is too unique ever to be
mistaken. I could never forget or fail to recognize those flashing eyes
and gleaming teeth. And, I tell you, I would rather have found her again
as I found her to-night than have discovered another gold mine as rich
as that of Red Cleft."

"Hartman, you were never more deceived in your life. That young lady,
Electra Coroni, is the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones, and is the
sole heiress of Beresford Manors. She was educated at the Mount
Ascension Academy for Young Ladies in this State, from which she has
just graduated."

"Whoever she is, or whatever she is, or wherever she lives now, when I
knew her she was Sal's Kid, and lived in Rat Alley, New York. And she
knew me as Galley Vick, the ship cook's boy."

"Hartman, you have certainly 'got a bee in your bonnet!'"

"We shall see. She almost recognized me to-night. She will quite know me
soon," answered Victor, as they turned their steps toward their hotel.

CHAPTER XIX.

VICTOR AND ELECTRA.

Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,
Some lucky revolution of their fate;
Whose motions, if we watch and guide with skill--
For human good depends on human will--
Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
And from a first impression takes its bent;