ion was made. Once
in New York she would by letter apply for the situation, for nothing
then could so well suit her state of mind as a tour to Europe, where she
would be far away from all she had ever known. Very adroitly she
ascertained Mrs. Ellsworth's address, wrote to her a note the day
following her arrival in New York, and the day following that, found her
in Mrs. Ellsworth's parlor at the Brevoort House, where for a few days
she was stopping. She had been greatly troubled to know what name to
give, but finally resolved to take her own, the one by which she was
known ere George Hastings crossed her path. Adah Maria Gordon was, as
she supposed, her real name, so in her note to Mrs. Ellsworth she signed
herself "Maria Gordon," omitting the Adah, which might lead to her being
recognized. From her little girl Mrs. Ellsworth had heard much of the
sweet young lady, who was so kind to her on the boat, and was thus
already prepossessed in her favor.

Adah did not tell Dr. Richards, and perhaps she did not herself know how
surprised and delighted Mrs. Ellsworth was with the fair, girlish
creature, announced to her as Miss Gordon, and who won her heart before
five minutes were gone, making her think it of no consequence to inquire
concerning her at Madam ----'s school, where she said she had been a
pupil.

"My sister must have been there at the same time," Mrs. Ellsworth had
said. "Perhaps you remember her, Augusta Stanley?"

Yes, Miss Gordon remembered her well, but added modestly:

"She may have forgotten me, as I was only a day scholar, and--not--not
quite her circle. I was poor."

Charmed with her frankness, Mrs. Ellsworth decided in her own mind to
take her, but, for form's sake, she would write to her sister Augusta,
recently married, and living in Milwaukee.

"Your first name is Maria," she said, taking out her pencil to write it
down.

Adah could not tell a lie, and she replied unhesitatingly:

"No, ma'am; my name is Adah Maria, but I prefer being called Maria."

Mrs. Ellsworth nodded, wrote down "Adah Maria Gordon," but in the letter
sent that day to Augusta, merely spoke of her governess in prospect as a
Miss Gordon, who had been at the same school with Augusta, asking if she
remembered her.

Yes, Augusta remembered Miss Gordon, well, a brown-eyed, sweet-faced,
conscientious little creature whom she liked so much, and whose services
her sister had better secure.

Mrs. Ellsworth hesitated no longer, a