rtune. So, up to the present time, Madeleine
and I have been, to a very great extent, dependent upon others; and
as our circumstances in life have been so strangely similar, we are
more like brother and sister than cousins. I shall be very glad,
for her sake, if she finds in the Mortons more than is ordinarily
found in chance friends. And I shall be glad, for my own sake, when
I can release the dear old Doctor from the burden with which he
willingly shackled himself when he took me under his care.

I wish I could have a good long talk with you, my dear old boy, on
this and a hundred other subjects; but I can't. And now I must
knock off for to-night, as the Doctor has just sent for me.
MARTIN VENABLES.

P. S.--I write in a violent hurry. The Doctor has read some
extraordinary news in the paper just in from London. It is about
the missing miniature, found on a prisoner. He will leave here for
London by the 7.45 train in the morning. I want this to catch the
post, so cannot write more, except that the Doctor wishes me to say
he will be sure to see you before he has been long in London.
M. V.

This postscript threw the little household at Rose Cottage into a great
flutter at the breakfast table the next morning.

"What can it mean?" asked Howard. "Have you seen anything in the paper,
uncle, to which it refers? I have not seen the paper for a week."

"'Pon my word, I don't know," said Captain Arkwright. "It can't be--yes,
it may, though. Just wait a minute."

The Captain jumped up, snatched the paper of the day before from a
side-table, and began to search for a particular heading, which, of
course, was not on the pages he had first opened.

"Here it is!" he cried at length. "It is headed, 'A Fatal Chase.'"

"Let me see it," said Howard, almost trembling with anxiety, as he ran his
eye hastily over the report.

It ran on this wise:

A robbery was committed a few days ago on the firm of Robinson &
Co., of this city, a report of which appeared in our columns. From
information received by the police, a person who had taken a
passage on board the "Ariadne," for New York, was suspected, and
warrants were issued for his apprehension. The arrest was made, but
as the police were bringing the prison