nd so rob the widowed father of his only child. It was a
scheme worthy of the lost and wretched woman that I then was."

A fit of coughing here set in, interrupting the narrative for several
minutes. Marcus offered his strange guest a glass of water. She sipped
it, until her cough was checked.

"I wished to make a full and minute statement, sir; but this cough again
warns me to be very brief. In a word, then, I had not gone far, before I
saw a German woman--a neat, elderly person--sitting on the stoop of her
house. An impulse moved me to leave the child with her. I accosted her,
but she answered me in German, saying that she could not speak English.
Hardly knowing what I did, I mounted the steps, and placed the child in
her arms, first kissing it. Then I tossed my pocket book, containing
about twenty dollars, into her lap, and, without another word or act,
ran off again. As I drew near the next corner, I turned, and saw the
German woman still sitting on the stoop, looking at the child, and then
at the money, and then at my flying form, in perfect amazement.

"Well, I returned to my country home in safety. Next day, I saw in the
New York papers a reward of five hundred dollars for the recovery of the
child, and the same amount for the arrest of the woman who stole it. My
person was described, according to the recollection of the servant, but
so imperfectly that I could not be identified. In two weeks I visited
the city again, found the house where I had left the child--for I had
remembered, even in my haste, the street and the number. The poor little
thing was well, and had learned to love its new mother, who, in turn,
seemed to love it as well as her own two children. I kissed the child,
left more money with the German woman, and fled again to my home. These
visits I repeated from week to week for six months, without detection.
The German woman supposed that I was the mother of the child, but knew
there was a secret, and did not seek to disturb it. At the end of the
six months, your--your--brother died." (There was here a slight quaver
in her voice, almost instantly passing away.) "Soon after this, my
mother died, and the last of our family estate was spent on her burial."
(Another tremor in the voice, but brief. The woman seemed to have
perfect control of her feelings.)

"Fortunately, I was qualified to earn my living as a seamstress. I went
to the city, advertised for such a place, and obtained it. I visited the
ch