he was soon forgotten, and Peter Jerrold's secret was safe
under the floor, and the tin box, with the gold and the will, was safe
in the niche of the huge chimney, where Hannah had hidden it, until
such time as it could be given into the hands of the rightful owner. For
this Hannah fully intended doing. How, or when, or by what agency, she
could not tell, but sometime in the future, restitution would be made,
either to Elizabeth or her heirs. She had calculated the interest on the
money, and resolved yearly to lay by that amount for the benefit of the
Rogers heirs. Everything pertaining to Carnarvon she read up, knowing
perfectly its history, where it was situated, how to reach it, and
almost fancying that she knew the very house where the peddler had
lived, and where possibly Elizabeth was still living. And some day she
would find the place and give up the money and will, and tell as much of
the past as was necessary to tell, but no more.

And with this end in view she lived her dreary, monotonous life, which
knew no change, except on the rare intervals when her young brother
Burton, came up from Boston to spend a few days with the father and
sister from whom he was growing estranged so fast; for between them and
himself there was nothing common, and he was always glad when his short
visit was over, and he was free to return to the life more in accordance
with his taste than that at the farm-house.

When Rover died, several years after the tragedy of which he was a
witness, Hannah felt that she had lost all that made life endurable, and
mourned for him as for a human friend. With all the faithful sagacity of
his race the noble brute had clung to her, seldom quitting her side, and
frequently, when her heart was saddest, and she was weeping by herself,
licking her face and hair, and uttering a kind of low cry, as if he
understood her perfectly; and when at last he died, it was with his head
in her lap, and her tears falling upon his shaggy face. Even to the last
he was faithful to the charge he had so long assumed. A neighbor had
come into the kitchen, and dragging himself from the mat on which he was
lying, Rover crawled to the door of the bedroom, and stretched himself
in front of it, while in the dying eyes lifted to Hannah's face, there
was an expression of unutterable love and regret for the mistress he was
leaving forever. When the visitor left the house, Hannah tried to coax
the dog back to his mat near the stove,