t is well with him as with
yours. They are happy. And we--have a common sorrow, love!"

"I did not know--I did not know. No one told me," murmured Salome, as she
dropped her face on her open hands, and cried like a child.

"Every one wished to spare you, my sweet girl, as long as possible. Yet
I _did_ think, they had told you of my father's departure, else I
had not alluded to it so suddenly. There! weep no more, love! Viewed in
the true light, those who have passed higher are rather to be envied than
mourned."

Then to change the current of her thoughts he said:

"Can you give your mind now to a little business, Salome?"

"Yes, if it concerns you," she sighed, wiping her eyes, and looking up.

"It concerns me only inasmuch as it affects your interests, my love. You
are of age, my Salome?"

"Yes, I was twenty-one on my last birthday."

"Then you enter at once upon your great inheritance--an onerous and
responsible position."

"But you will sustain it for me. I shall not feel its weight," she
murmured.

"There are thousands in this realm, my love, good men and true, who would
gladly relieve me of the dear trust," said the duke, with a smile. "We
must, however, be guided by your father's will, which I am happy to know
is in entire harmony with your own wishes. And that brings me to what I
wished to say. Kage, your late father's solicitor, is in possession of
his last will. He could not follow the custom, and read it immediately
after the funeral, because your illness precluded the possibility of your
presence at its perusal. But he only waits for your recovery and a
summons from me to bring it. Whenever, therefore, you feel equal to the
exertion of hearing it, I will send a telegram to Kage to come down,"
concluded the duke.

"My father's last will!" softly murmured Salome. "Send the telegram
to-day, please. To hear his last will read will be almost like hearing
from him."

"There is beside the will a letter from your father, addressed to you,
and left in the charge of Kage, to be delivered with the reading of the
will, in the case of his, the writer's, sudden death," gravely added the
duke.

"A letter from my dear father to me? A letter from the grave! No, rather
a letter from Heaven! Telegraph Mr. Kage to bring down the papers at
once, dear John," said Salome, eagerly, as a warm flush arose on her
pale, transparent cheek.

"I will do so at once, love; for to my mind, that letter is of equal
importance