her than a
favored friend and guest in our household; and a young girl whose
advantages had outweighed a thousand-fold those of the once neglected
waif rescued by our Milly from a life of evil, had gone forth from
among us with a record of shame and wrong-doing which had forfeited,
not only her own good name, but also the respect and liking of all who
had become cognizant of the shameful tale.

To those who have read "Uncle Rutherford's Attic," these circumstances
will be familiar; to those who have not, a few words will suffice for
explanation.

In the early part of the summer, my aunt, Mrs. Rutherford, had sent to
me a pair of very valuable diamond earrings, old family jewels, and an
heirloom. They came to me by virtue of my baptismal name, Amy
Rutherford, which I had inherited from several successive grandmothers
on my mother's side; the young cousin to whom they would have
descended, the only daughter of aunt and uncle Rutherford, having died
some years since, when a very little girl. She was exactly of my own
age; and this, with the fact that she too was an Amy, had caused me to
be regarded by my uncle and aunt, especially the latter, with a
peculiar tenderness; and they seemed to feel that to me, the only
living representative of the family name once borne by their lost
darling, belonged all the rights and privileges which would have fallen
to their own Amy Rutherford. It may be imagined how I had prized a gift
precious, not only for its own intrinsic value, but for the many
associations which clustered about it.

Scarcely, however, had the earrings become my personal property, than
there followed in their train such a course of sin, sorrow, and
tribulation, that my pleasure in them was quite destroyed; and, for a
long time, the very sight of them became hateful to me.

Ella Raymond, a ward of my father's, and a girl somewhat older than
myself, had come to make us a visit just about the time that the
beautiful jewels came into my hands. Incited by vanity, and an
inordinate love of dress, this unhappy girl had recklessly allowed
herself to become heavily involved in debt,--debt from which she saw no
means of escape, and which she was resolved not to confess to her
guardians. The sight of my diamonds aroused within her the desire to
possess herself of them, not for her own personal adornment, but that
she might dispose of the jewels, replacing them with counterfeit
stones, and so obtaining the means to satisfy