weeping, she could only sob out,--

"Oh! I can't tell, Ma'am, I can't tell you!"

At last she summoned enough courage to say,--

"He's dead now real! No mistake this time,--real, real dead! He died in
the 'ospital three weeks ago,--and never, never got none of them 'ere
letters!"

Yes, the poor fellow was, as his wife said, "dead real"; and I found, on
inquiry, that, at the very time the false rumor of his death reached us,
he was then actually dying of a fever at a hospital in Florida!

She was right, too, about the ill-luck of the letters. He had not
received one of them! Not knowing of his change of place, we had
addressed the letters to the regiment station, where I suppose they
went, while he was far off in a distant hospital, tossing on a sick-bed;
and when he died, he had added to his physical sufferings the anguish of
thinking himself forgotten by the wife and friends he loved so tenderly.

This narrative is a simple report of one of the thousands of sad
romances which were daily and hourly happening to American women during
the late civil struggle.

"Too common! Never morning wore
To evening but some heart did break."

DOCTOR JOHNS.

XLIII.

The foreign letters rarely came singly; and Adele had already
accomplished the reading of her own missive, in which Maverick had
spoken of his having taken occasion to address, by the same mail, a line
to the Doctor on matters of business, "in regard to which," (he had
said,) "don't, my dear Adele, be too inquisitive, even if you observe
that it is cause of some perplexity to the good Doctor. Indeed, in such
case, I hope you will contribute to his cheer, as I am sure you have
often done. We owe him a large debt of gratitude, my child, and I rely
upon you to add your thankfulness to mine, and speak for both."

"You look troubled, New Papa," said Adele. "Can I help you? Eh, Doctor?"

And she came toward him in her playful manner, and patted the old
gentleman on the shoulder, while he sat with his face buried in his
hands.

"I don't think papa writes very cheerfully, do you?
Eh,--Doctor--Benjamin--Johns?" (tapping him with more spirit.)--"Why,
New Papa, what does this mean?"

For the Doctor had raised his head now, and regarded her with a look of
mingled yearning and distrust that was wholly new to her.

"Pray, New Papa, what is it?"

The old gentlemen--so utterly guileless--was puzzled for an answer; but
his ingenuity came to his relief a