nly two years previous to the opening of our story the world had been
as bright to them as to any of the petted favorites of fortune who
dwell in the luxurious palaces on Fifth avenue.

Albert Allandale had been a wealthy broker in Wall street; for years
Fortune had showered her favors upon him, and everything he had
touched seemed literally to turn to gold in his grasp.

His family consisted of his wife, his beautiful daughter, and two
bright sons, ten and twelve years of age, upon whom the dearest hopes
of his life had centered.

But like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, an illness of less than a
week had deprived him of both of his sons.

Diphtheria, that fell destroyer, laid its relentless hand upon them,
and they had died upon the same day, within a few hours of each other.

The heart-broken father was a changed man from the moment, when,
sitting in speechless agony beside these idolized boys, he watched
their young lives go out, and felt that the future held nothing to
tempt him to live on.

His mind appeared to be impaired by this crushing blow; he could
neither eat nor sleep; his business was neglected, and, day by day, he
failed, until, in less than six months from the time that death had so
robbed him, he had followed his boys, leaving his wife and lovely
daughter to struggle as best they could with poverty; for their great
wealth had melted like snow beneath the blazing sun when Mr. Allandale
lost his interest in the affairs of the world.

Keenly sensitive, and no less proud--crushed by their many sorrows,
the bereaved wife and daughter hid themselves and their grief from
every one, in a remote corner of the great city. But misfortune
followed misfortune--Mrs. Allandale having become a confirmed
invalid--until they were reduced to the straits described at the
opening of our story.

The week preceding they had spent their last dollar--obtained by
pawning one after another of their old-time treasures--and Edith
insisted upon seeking employment.

She had seen an advertisement for a copyist in one of the daily
papers, and, upon answering it in person, succeeded in obtaining the
situation with the young lawyer already mentioned.

Every day spent in her presence only served to make him admire her the
more; and, before the week was out, he had altogether lost his heart
to her.

When Saturday evening arrived, he paid her with the golden coin which
was destined to bring fresh sorrow upon her, and she we