ormal
issue in the case, and demanded the property for his client, Mrs.
Montgomery, who was still living in Boston with her daughter, in a
retired way. Nearly one-half of her income had been cut off, and her
circumstances were, in consequence, greatly reduced. Her health was
feeble, having steadily declined since her removal from S----. An
occasional letter passed between her and my wife; and it was in this way
that I learned of her health and condition. How free was all she wrote
from repining or despondency--how full of Christian faith, hope, and
patience! You could not read one of her letters without growing stronger
for the right--without seeing the world as through a reversed telescope.

A time was fixed for hearing the case, which, now that it assumed this
important shape, excited great interest among the people of S----. When
the matter came fairly into court, Mr. Wallingford presented his clearly
arranged documentary evidence, in proof of Mrs. Montgomery's identity
as the sister of Captain Allen, and claimed the property as hers. He
covered, in anticipation, every possible ground of objection; bringing
forward, at the same time, such an array of precedents and decisions
bearing upon the case, that it was clear to every one on which side the
decision would lie.

At this important juncture a letter, post-marked in New York on the day
before, was offered in court, and a demand, based on its contents, made
for a stay of proceedings. It came from the Spanish Consul, and was
addressed to Abel Bigelow and John Floyd, executors of the late Captain
Allen, and notified them that he had just received letters from San Juan
De Porto Rico, containing information as to the existence of an heir to
the estate in the person of a boy named Leon Garcia, nephew to the late
Mrs. Allen. The case was immediately laid over until the next term of
court.

In the meantime, steps were promptly taken to ascertain the truth of
this assumption. An agent was sent out to the island of Porto Rico, who
brought back all the proofs needed to establish the claim, and also the
lad himself, who was represented to be in his fourteenth year. He was
a coarse, wicked-looking boy, who, it was plain, had not yet fully
awakened to a realizing sense of the good fortune that awaited him.

A resolute opposition was made by Wallingford, but all the evidence
adduced to prove Leon Garcia's relationship to Mrs. Allen was too
clear, and so the court dismissed the