y seven orphans, now, alas! suffering even for
the common necessaries of life. Need a fond sister say more to
her only living brother?

Thine, as in childhood,

ANNETTE.

"Misfortunes pour like a pitiless winter storm upon my devoted head,"
thought Lucile, as she replaced the letter in its envelope. "Parents
dead; aunt broken-hearted; cousins starving, and I not able to afford
relief. I cannot even moisten their sorrows with a tear. I would weep,
but rebellion against fate rises in my soul, and dries up the fountain
of tears. Had Heaven made me a man it would not have been thus. I have
something here," she exclaimed, rising from her seat and placing her
hand upon her forehead, "that tells me I could do and dare, and endure."

Her further soliloquy was here interrupted by a distinct rap at her
door, and on pronouncing the word "enter," Pollexfen, for the first time
since she became a member of his family, strode heavily into her
chamber. Lucile did not scream, or protest, or manifest either surprise
or displeasure at this unwonted and uninvited visit. She politely
pointed to a seat, and the photographer, without apology or hesitation,
seized the chair, and moving it so closely to her own that they came in
contact, seated himself without uttering a syllable. Then, drawing a
document from his breast pocket, which was folded formally, and sealed
with two seals, but subscribed only with one name, he proceeded to read
it from beginning to end, in a slow, distinct, and unfaltering tone.

I have the document before me, as I write, and I here insert a full and
correct copy. It bore date just one month subsequent to the time of the
interview, and was intended, doubtless, to afford his pupil full
opportunity for consultation before requesting her signature:

|=This Indenture=|, Made this nineteenth day of November, A. D.
1853, by John Pollexfen, photographer, of the first part, and
Lucile Marmont, artiste, of the second part, both of the city of
San Francisco, and State of California, WITNESSETH:

WHEREAS, the party of the first part is desirous of obtaining a
living, sentient, human eye, of perfect organism, and
unquestioned strength, for the sole purpose of chemical analysis
and experiment in the lawful prosecution of his studies as
photograph chemist. AND WHEREAS, the party of the second part can
supply t