rs of her bedroom, and the
street was waking up to its busy morning life. The light rested in soft
yellow bars upon the wall, and lit up the pretty frilled toilet-cover
which Miss Saxon's hands had made. To those hands belonged that good
gift of womanly skill which is a blessing to any household. Already
Elsie had learnt to rely upon their owner, and believe in her sagacity.
If any one could help her in her perplexity, it was surely Miss Saxon.

A spirit of peace seemed to brood over her little sitting-room when she
sat down to breakfast. Perhaps the scene of a spiritual victory is
destined, ever afterwards, to know an atmosphere of repose.

Out of doors there was the clear blue of the spring sky, the whiteness
of snowy clouds floating out of the reach of the smoke, the cheerful
light warming the red tiles whereon the pigeons were taking their
morning exercise. Altogether the world seemed to wear an encouraging
aspect that day.

Miss Saxon had that gentleness of expression and manner which is often
sweetest when youth has fled. When Elsie, with her black dress and sad
face, had come to the house, she was cheered by a hundred little tokens
of thoughtful kindness. The good fairy who had made the frilled
toilet-cover was always at work, and her goodwill was manifested in
pretty little flounces and furbelows, which gave a sort of old-fashioned
grace to the rooms.

A little later Elsie was pouring out the story of her discovery of the
manuscript, and Miss Saxon was listening in her quiet fashion. But her
first words gave Elsie a chill of disappointment.

"At present I don't see how I can help you, Miss Kilner," she said.
"That old table came into the house a few days before you arrived. I
happened to see it outside a broker's shop, and thought it would be the
very thing I wanted to fill up that corner."

"And the shop--is it near here?" Elsie asked anxiously.

"Very near; but I don't know much about the shopkeepers. The man seemed
rather rough, but the woman was decent and civil. We will go and make
inquiries."

"I thought that Meta had lived here," Elsie said in a disappointed
voice.

"No. Your rooms were occupied for six years by a single gentleman. He
had something to do in the City, and seemed to be a confirmed bachelor.
But he married at last, and the rooms were vacant till you came to
them."

"If Meta had ever lived in this street you would have known something
about her, would you not?" Elsie asked.

"I