yal to you in trying to believe that you were
not my mother, and could you come back to me, Mah-nee, whoever you are,
I'd be to you so loving and true. Tell me, Mah-nee, who I am; give me
some sign that what comes to me so often of that far-off land is true.
There _was_ another face than yours, which kissed me fondly, and other
hands, dead now, as are the dear old hands which shielded me from the
cold that awful night, have caressed me lovingly.'

But to this appeal there came no response, and Jerrie would have been
frightened if there had. The shawl, the cloak, the dress were as silent
and motionless as she to whom they had belonged; and Jerrie folded them
reverently, kissing each one as she did so; then she took out the
carpet-bag, which had once held her tiny body. She always laughed when
she looked at this and tried to imagine herself in it, and she did so
now as she held it up and said:

'I could not much more than get my two feet in you now, old bag; but you
did me good service once, and I respect you, although I have outgrown
you.'

Her own clothes came next--the little dresses, which showed a mother's
love and care; the handkerchief, marked 'J;' the aprons, and the picture
book with which she had played, and from which it seemed to her she had
learned the alphabet, standing by that cushioned chair before the tall
white stove. There was only the fine towel left of the clothing, and
Jerrie gazed along and thoughtfully at the letter 'M,' embroidered with
flowers in the corners.

'Marguerite begins with M,' she said, 'and Gretchen's name was
Marguerite. Oh, if it were Gretchen who worked this letter, then I can
touch what her hands have touched--the little dimpled hands in the
picture,' and she kissed the 'M' as fervently as if it had been
Gretchen's lips and Gretchen were her mother.

On the old brass ring the key to the trunk and carpet-bag were still
fastened, together with the small straight key, for which no use had
ever been found. Jerrie had never thought much about this key before,
but now she held it in her hand a long, long time, while the conviction
grew that this was the key to the mystery; that could she find the
article which this unlocked, she would know what she so longed to
know--something definite with regard to herself. But where to look she
could not guess; and with her brain in a whirl which threatened a
violent headache, she closed the chest at last, and crept wearily to bed
just as the c