him in possession of the facts which Elsie wished to confide; but
notwithstanding the circumstances that might almost have justified an
investigation, his delicate sense of honor forbade the thought. Taking
the letters from the mantelpiece, he turned them to the lamp-light.

_Mrs. Agla Gerome,
Care of Robert Maclean,
Box 20._
---- ----.

They were post-marked New York, and from the size and appearance of
the envelopes he suspected that they contained legal documents.
Perhaps one of them might prove a will, awaiting signature and
witnesses. Dr. Grey carried them into the room where his patient still
slept, and placed them on the dressing-table. Accidentally his glance
fell on a large worn Bible that lay contiguous, and brightening the
light, he opened the volume, and turned to the record of births.

"Vashti Evelyn, born June 10th, 18--.

"Henderson Flewellyn, born April 17th, 18--.

"Vashti Flewellyn, born January 30th, 18--."

On the marriage record he found,

"Married, July 1st, 18--, Vashti Evelyn to Henderson Flewellyn.

"Married, September 8th, 18--, Evelyn Flewellyn to Maurice Carlyle."

The only deaths recorded were those of Henderson and Vashti
Flewellyn.

Whatever the mystery might be, Dr. Grey resolved to pursue the subject
no further; but wait patiently and learn all from the beautiful lips
of the white-faced sphinx, who alone possessed the right to unseal the
record of her blighted life.

"Who might have been--ah, what, I dare not think!
We all are changed. God judges for us best.
God help us do our duty, and not shrink,
And trust in heaven humbly for the rest."

CHAPTER XXII.

The profound stillness that pervades a room where life and death
grapple for mastery, invites and aids that calm, inexorable
introspection, which Gotama Buddha prescribes as an almost unerring
path to the attainment of peace; and, in the solemn silence of
his last and memorable vigil, Dr. Grey brought his heart into
complete unmurmuring subjection to the Divine will. A _soi-disant_
"resignation" that draws honied lips to the throne of grace,
leaving a heart of gall in the camp of sedition, could find no
harbor in his uncompromisingly honest nature; and though the
struggle was severe, he felt that faith in Eternal wisdom and mercy
had triumphed over merely human affection and earthly hopes, and
his strong soul chanted to itself the comfort