ts for me at our house. Aunt
Silence cares for nothing but her own soul, and the other woman hates
me, I always thought. Kitty Fagan will cry hard. Tell her perhaps I
shall come back by and by. There is a little box in my room, with some
keepsakes marked,--one is for poor Kitty. You can give them to the right
ones. Yours is with them.

Good-by, dearest. Keep my secret, as I told you, till Monday. And if you
never see me again, remember how much I loved you. Never think hardly
of me, for you have grown up in a happy home, and do not know how much
misery can be crowded into fifteen years of a young girl's life. God be
with you!

MYRTLE HAZARD.

Olive could not restrain her tears, as she handed the letter to Cyprian.
"Her secret is as safe with you as with me," she said. "But this is
madness, Cyprian, and we must keep her from doing herself a wrong.

"What she means to do, is to get to Boston, in some way or other, and
sail for India. It is strange that they have not tracked her. There is
no time to be lost. She shall not go out into the world in this way,
child that she is. No; she shall come back, and make her home with us,
if she cannot be happy with these people. Ours is a happy and a cheerful
home, and she shall be to me as a younger sister, and your sister too,
Cyprian. But you must see her; you must leave this very hour; and you
may find her. Go to your cousin Edward, in Boston, at once; tell him
your errand, and get him to help you find our poor dear sister. Then
give her the note I will write, and say I know your heart, Cyprian, and
I can trust that to tell you what to say."

In a very short time Cyprian Eveleth was on his way to Boston. But
another, keener even in pursuit than he, was there before him.

Ever since the day when Master Gridley had made that over-curious
observation of the young lawyer's proceedings at the office, Murray
Bradshaw had shown a far livelier interest than before in the conditions
and feelings of Myrtle Hazard. He had called frequently at The Poplars
to talk over business matters, which seemed of late to require a deal
of talking. He had been very deferential to Miss Silence, and had
wound himself into the confidence of Miss Badlam. He found it harder to
establish any very near relations with Myrtle, who had never seemed to
care much for any young man but Cyprian Eveleth, and to care for him
quite as much as Olive's brother as for any personal reason. But he
carefully studied My