e--brother, it will
come as a blessing; for my extremity is great. Forgive me for thus
troubling you. Necessity often prompts to acts, from the thought of
which, in brighter moments, we turn with a feeling of pain."

For many minutes after reading this letter, Doctor Grimes sat with his
eyes upon the floor.

"My poor Mary!" he said at length, "how much you have suffered; and yet
more drops of bitterness are given to your cup! Oh that it was in my
power to relieve you! But my hands are stricken down with paralysis.
What can I do? Thus far, I have gone in debt instead of clearing my
expenses."

He took out his pocket-book and searched it over.

"Nothing--nothing," he murmured as he refolded it. "Ah, what curse is
there like the curse of poverty?"

He then referred to the other letter, the receipt of which he had
almost forgotten. Breaking the seal, he read, with surprise, its
contents, which were as follows:--

"To DOCTOR GRIMES.--Dear Sir: Please call, as early as possible,
at Messrs. L---- & P----'s, No. -- Wall Street, New York; where
you will hear of something to your advantage."

"What can this mean?" exclaimed the doctor, as he hurriedly perused the
letter again. "Can it be possible that a relative of my father, in
England, has died, and left us property? Yes; it must be so. Several
members of his family there are in good circumstances. Oh, if it should
be thus, how timely has relief come! For your sake, my dear sister,
more than for my own, will I be thankful! But how am I to go to New
York? I have not a dollar in my pocket, and will receive nothing for a
week or two."

The only resource was in borrowing; and to this the doctor resorted
with considerable reluctance. From a gentleman who had always shown an
interest in him, he obtained five dollars. Within an hour after the
receipt of the letter, he was on his way to the city. The more he
pondered the matter, the more likely did it seem to him that his first
conclusion was the true one. There was an uncle of his father's, a
miser, reputed to be very rich, from whom, some years before, the
family had received letters; and it seemed not at all improbable that
his death had occurred, and that he and his sister had been remembered
in the will. This idea so fully possessed his mind by the time he
arrived in the city, that he was already beginning to make, in
imagination, sundry dispositions of the property soon to come into his
hands.

"Can I see