nto the hole just behind it, and which was then large enough
to receive it. Then the rats, attracted by this novel appearance in
their midst, had investigated and dragged it so far from the opening
that it could not been seen unless one went down upon the floor to look
for it.

This was the conviction that flashed upon Jerrie as she stood, with
widely dilated eyes and quivering nostrils, staring at the bag, without
the power at first to speak or move.

The music was gone now--Gretchen's voice and Arthur's--and there was
only in her ears a roaring sound like the rushing of distant waters
falling heavily, while the objects in the room swam around her, and she
experienced again that ringing sensation as if the top of her head were
leaving her. She was so sure that here at last was a message from the
dead--that she had the mystery of her babyhood in her grasp--and yet,
for full two minutes she hesitated and held back, until at last the
sweet, pale face which had haunted her so often seemed about to touch
her own with a caress which brought the hot tears to her eyes, and the
spell which had bound her hands and feet was broken.

The bag was clasped, but not locked, although there was a lock, and
Jerrie thought involuntarily of the little key lying with the other
articles on the dead woman's person. To unclasp the bag required a
little strength, for the steel was covered with rust; but it yielded at
last to Jerrie's strong fingers; and the bag came open, disclosing first
some square object carefully wrapped in a silk handkerchief which had
been white in its day, but which now was yellow and soiled by time. At
this, however, Jerrie scarcely looked, for her eye had fallen upon a
package of papers lying beneath it--papers folded with care, and
securely tied with a bit of faded blue ribbon.

Seating herself upon the bench where she had been sleeping when
Peterkin's voice aroused her, Jerrie untied the package, and then began
to read, first slowly, as if weighing every word and sentence, then
faster and faster, until at last it seemed that her burning eyes, from
which the hot tears were streaming like rain, fairly leaped from page to
page, taking in the contents at a glance, and comprehending everything.

When she had finished, she sat for a moment rigid as a corpse, and then,
with a loud, glad cry, which made the very rafters ring, and went
floating out upon the summer air, "Thank Heaven, I have found my
mother!" she fell upo