found in the hall, near my door, a tiny ambrotype of
a young girl, who must have been very beautiful--such splendid hair,
soft brown eyes, and cheeks like carnation pinks. I wondered much whose
it was, for I knew the owner must be sorry to lose it. Father suggested
that we put a written notice in the business office, and that very
afternoon Dr. Richards knocked at our door, saying the ambrotype was
his. 'I would not lose it for the world,' he said, 'as the original is
dead,' and he looked so sad that I pitied him so much; but I have the
strangest part yet to tell. You are sure she cannot hear?" and walking
to the open window, Ellen glanced down the long piazza to where Adah's
dress was visible.

"I looked at the face so much that I never can forget it, particularly
the way the hair was worn, combed almost as low upon the forehead as you
wears yours, and just as that Mrs. Hastings wears hers. I noticed it the
moment I came in; and, 'Lina, Mrs. Hastings is the original of that
ambrotype, I'm sure, only the picture was younger, fresher-looking, than
she. But they are the same, I'm positive, and that's why I started so
when I first saw this Adah. Funny, isn't it?"

'Lina knew just how positive Ellen was with regard to any opinion she
espoused, and presumed in her own mind that in this point, as in many
others, she was mistaken. Still she answered that it was queer, though
she could not understand what Adah could possibly be to Dr. Richards.

"Call her in for something and I'll manage to question her. I'm so
curious and so sure," Ellen said, while 'Lina called: "Adah, Miss
Tiffton wishes to see how my new blue muslin fits. Come help me try it
on."

Obedient to the call Adah came, and was growing very red in the face
with trying to hook 'Lina's dress, when Ellen casually remarked:

"You lived in New York, I think?"

"Yes, ma'am," was the reply, and Ellen continued:

"Maybe I saw some of your acquaintances. I was there a long time."

Oh, how eagerly Adah turned toward her now, the glad thought flashing
upon her that possibly she meant George. Maybe he'd come home.

"Whom did you see?" she asked, her eyes fixed wistfully on Ellen, who
replied:

"Oh, a great many. There was Mr. Reed, and Mr. Benedict, and Mr. Ward,
and--well, I saw the most of Dr. Richards, perhaps. Do you know either
of them?"

"No, I never heard of them before," was the reply, so frankly spoken
that Ellen was confounded, for she felt sure that Dr.