"
* * * * *
"'Trying circumstances!'--'Miss Ercildoune!'--what does it mean?" he
cried, bewildered. "Come, let us see."
The letter which he now opened was an old and much-fingered one,
written--as he saw at the first glance--by his aunt to his mother. Why
it was sent to him he could not conjecture; and, without attempting to
so do, at once plunged into its pages:--
* * * * *
"CONTINENTAL HOTEL,
PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 27, 1861
"MY DEAR LAURA:--
"I can readily understand with what astonishment you will read this
letter, from the amazement I have experienced in collecting its details.
I will not weary you with any personal narration, but tell my tale at
once.
"Miss Ercildoune, as you know, was my daughter's intimate at school,--a
school, the admittance to which was of itself a guarantee of
respectability. Of course I knew nothing of her family, nor of
her,--save as Clara wrote me of her beauty and her accomplishments, and,
above all, of her style,--till I met Mrs. Lancaster. Of her it is
needless for me to speak. As you know, she is irreproachable, and her
position is of the best. Consequently when Clara wrote me that her
friend was to come to New York to her aunt, and begged to entertain her
for a while, I added my request to her entreaty, and Miss Ercildoune
came. Ill-fated visit! would it had never been made!
"It is useless now to deny her gifts and graces.
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