e way. No? Then your improvin', to that extent I must
even be givin' ye a bite o' this fine apple pie. Hmm; exactly. Well,
give the young lady her bit property, again' I slips on a plate an'
teaches ye how to eat decent, as ye should."

So the little fellow, who had just been promoted to his first trousers
and felt as all boys do in such a case, walked proudly across the room
and offered Amy a japanned casket.

"Why, Sir William, how came you by that? I haven't seen it for ever so
long. I used to keep my few letters in it. I wonder if they're here
now."

"Ev'y one. My mamma seen 'em all. She said the top one--I don't know.
Somefin."

"Arrah musha! but I remember one day, long syne, he was aye botherin'
an' I set him to orderin' the box neat an' nice. He must ha' took it
away with him an' me not payin' no attention. Well, a box o' such
truck's neither here no more there, I forecast."

Amy had stopped to admire the new garment, fashioned from an old one of
Hallam's, and having thus satisfied the little one's innocent pride, now
opened her recovered keepsake. She lifted the letters idly, dropped
them, and again catching one that had, indeed, lain upon the top, sprang
up and waved it overhead.

"The letter! the letter! The lost one of Adam!"

"No; is it really? To come in such a way--"

"On such a day--oh, Hal!"

She caught her brother's hands and wrung them in delight, then ran to
her father and placed the letter before him.

He looked at it critically.

"Yes; that is Adam Burn's handwriting. His own familiar seal. These
people who have had it in keeping--"

"I hided it. Zen I dugged it out. Same like Fayetty," explained Sir
William, between mouthfuls.

"The blessed baby! that explains."

"Let us go into the parlor and read it. It is yours, daughter; you must
yourself break the seal."

"Oh, I'll break it fast enough."

"Hmm. Young lady, I thought you were the girl who didn't want to be an
heiress," commented Uncle Fred, teasingly.

Amy's face sobered.

"You are right. I didn't so wish then, when the shock and sorrow were
fresh; but now I do. Just think of all the comfort for all you folks in
that lovely home."

"Then I must lose my tenants, eh?" asked Mr. Wingate, smiling.

"Thee'll lose nothing! Wait. If thee has plans to tell, so have I."

The letter was a simple one, plain, and leaving no room for any sort of
legal difficulty. Amy could enter upon her heritage that day, if she
wished. The pl