rtion of her anatomy where she
supposed her heart lay.

"She didn't faint away, did she?" asked Luke.

"No, not quite."

"Did she say who the letter was from?"

"No; I asked her, but she said, 'From no one that you ever saw,
Nancy.' I say, Luke, if you find out who's it from, let me know."

"I won't promise, Nancy. Perhaps mother would prefer to keep it a
secret."

"Oh, well, keep your secrets, if you want to."

"Don't be angry, Nancy; I will tell you if I can," and Luke hurried
upstairs to the third story, which contained the three rooms occupied
by his mother, his little brother, and himself.

Opening the door, he saw his mother sitting in a rocking-chair,
apparently in deep thought, for the work had fallen from her hands and
lay in her lap. There was an expression of sadness in her face, as if
she had been thinking of the happy past, when the little family was
prosperous, and undisturbed by poverty or privation.

"What's the matter, mother?" asked Luke, with solicitude.

Mrs. Walton looked up quickly.

"I have been longing to have you come back, Luke," she said.
"Something strange has happened to-day."

"You received a letter, did you not?"

"Who told you, Luke?"

"Nancy. I met her as I came in. She said she brought up the letter,
and that you appeared very much agitated when you opened it."

"It is true."

"From whom was the letter, then, mother?"

"From your father."

"What!" exclaimed Luke, with a start. "Is he not dead?"

"The letter was written a year ago."

"Why, then, has it arrived so late?"

"Your father on his deathbed intrusted it to someone who mislaid it,
and has only just discovered and mailed it. On the envelope he
explains this, and expresses his regret. It was at first mailed to our
old home, and has been forwarded from there. But that is not all,
Luke. I learn from the letter that we have been cruelly wronged. Your
father, when he knew he could not live, intrusted to a man in whom he
had confidence, ten thousand dollars to be conveyed to us. This wicked
man could not resist the temptation, but kept it, thinking we should
never know anything about it. You will find it all explained in the
letter."

"Let me read it, mother," said Luke, in excitement.

Mrs. Walton opened a drawer of the bureau, and placed in her son's
hands an envelope, brown and soiled by contact with tobacco. It was
directed to her in a shaky hand. Across one end were written these
words:

This lette