ared heir to the title."

"Then Gregory has been dead eighteen years!" the elder of the ladies
said. "We have always hoped that he would be alive, in one of the
colonies, and that sooner or later he would see the advertisement that
had been put in the papers."

"No, madam. He went out to Alexandria with my mother, shortly before I
was born. He died some three or four years before his brother. It was
seldom my mother saw an English paper. Unfortunately, as it turned out,
my father had dropped his surname when he accepted a situation, which
was a subordinate one, at Alexandria; and his reason for taking it was
that my mother was in weak health, and the doctor said it was necessary
she should go to a warm climate; therefore, had any of her friends seen
the advertisement, they would not have known that it applied to her. I,
myself, did not know that my proper name was Hartley until a year back,
when I discovered my father's journal at Hebbeh, the place where he was
murdered; and then opened the documents that my mother had entrusted to
me, before her death, with an injunction not to open them until I had
ascertained, for certain, that my father was no longer alive."

One of the ladies took the letter, and opened it. They read it
together.

"Poor Gregory!" one said, wiping her eyes, "we were both fond of him,
and certainly would have done all in our power to assist his widow. He
was nearer our age than Geoffrey. It was a terrible grief to us, when
he quarrelled with our father. Of course our sympathies were with
Gregory, but we never ventured to say so; and our father never
mentioned his name, from the day he left the house. Why did not your
mother send his letter to us?"

"Because she did not need assistance. She was maintaining herself and
me in comfort by teaching music, French, and English to the wives and
children of several of the high Egyptian officials."

"How long is it since you lost her?"

"More than three years ago. At her death, I was fortunate enough to
obtain an appointment similar to that my father had, and at the same
time a commission in the Egyptian service; and have been fortunate in
being, two or three times, mentioned in despatches."

"Yes; curiously enough, after receiving Mr. Tufton's letter, we saw
Colonel Wingate's despatch in the paper, in which your name is
mentioned. We should have been astonished, indeed, had we not opened
the letter before we looked at the paper.

"Well, Gregory, we