s of strength, on which the useful
exercise of his memory depended, began to fail him as the interview
proceeded. He distinctly recollected that "something unpleasant had
passed between that audacious woman and himself." But at what date--and
whether by word of mouth or by correspondence--was more than his memory
could now recall. He believed he was not mistaken in telling me that he
"had been in two minds about her." At one time, he was satisfied that he
had taken wise measures for his own security, if she attempted to annoy
him. But there was another and a later time, when doubts and fears had
laid hold of him again. If I wanted to know how this had happened, he
fancied it was through a dream; and if I asked what the dream was, he
could only beg and pray that I would spare his poor head.

Unwilling even yet to submit unconditionally to defeat, it occurred to
me to try a last experiment on my friend, without calling for any mental
effort on his own part. The "Miss Chance" of former days might, by a
bare possibility, have written to him. I asked accordingly if he was in
the habit of keeping his letters, and if he would allow me (when he had
rested a little) to lay them open before him, so that he could look at
the signatures. "You might find the lost recollection in that way," I
suggested, "at the bottom of one of your letters."

He was in that state of weariness, poor fellow, in which a man will do
anything for the sake of peace. Pointing to a cabinet in his room,
he gave me a key taken from a little basket on his bed. "Look for
yourself," he said. After some hesitation--for I naturally recoiled
from examining another man's correspondence--I decided on opening the
cabinet, at any rate.

The letters--a large collection--were, to my relief, all neatly folded,
and indorsed with the names of the writers. I could run harmlessly
through bundle after bundle in search of the one name that I wanted,
and still respect the privacy of the letters. My perseverance deserved
a reward--and failed to get it. The name I wanted steadily eluded my
search. Arriving at the upper shelf of the cabinet, I found it so high
that I could barely reach it with my hand. Instead of getting more
letters to look over, I pulled down two newspapers.

One of them was an old copy of the _Times_, dating back as far as
the 13th December, 1858. It was carefully folded, longwise, with the
title-page uppermost. On the first column, at the left-hand side of t