his left hind shoe,--where it might be yet, if Mr.
Spencer--" here he bowed to a strange gentleman who at that moment
entered--"had not come himself for his daughters, and, going first to
the stable, found his horse so restless and seemingly lame--(there,
boys, you may take the wretch away now and harness him, but first hold
up that guilty left hind hoof for the ladies to see)--that he stooped to
examine him, and so came upon _this_."

Here the young gentleman brought forward his hand. In it was a
nondescript little wad, well soaked and shapeless; but, once he had
untied the kid, such a ray of rosy light burst from his outstretched
palm that I doubt if a single woman there noted the clatter of the
retiring beast or the heavy clang made by the two front doors as they
shut upon the _robber_. Eyes and tongues were too busy, and Mr. Ashley,
realizing, probably, that the interest of all present would remain, for
a few minutes at least, with this marvelous jewel so astonishingly
recovered, laid it, with many expressions of thankfulness, in Mrs.
Burton's now eagerly outstretched palm, and advancing toward us, paused
in front of Miss Glover and eagerly held out his hand.

"Congratulate me," he prayed. "All our troubles are over--Oh, what now!"

The poor young thing, in trying to smile, had turned as white as a
sheet. Before either of us could interpose an arm, she had slipped to
the floor in a dead faint. With a murmur of pity and possibly of inward
contrition, he stooped over her and together we carried her into the
library, where I left her in his care, confident, from certain
indications, that my presence would not be greatly missed by either of
them.

Whatever hope I may have had of reaping the reward offered by Mrs.
Ashley was now lost, but, in the satisfaction I experienced at finding
this young girl as innocent as my Flora, I did not greatly care.

Well, it all ended even more happily than may here appear. The horse not
putting in his claim to the reward, and Mr. Spencer repudiating all
right to it, it was paid in full to Mr. Deane, who went home in as
buoyant a state of mind as was possible to him after the great anxieties
of the preceding two hours. Miss Glover was sent back by the Ashleys in
their own carriage and I was told that Mr. Ashley declined to close the
carriage door upon her till she had promised to come again the
following night.

Anxious to make such amends as I personally could for my share in the