r was to be married, and
the elder was to be bridesmaid. They talked of their dresses and their
presents; they compared the dashing bridegroom of one with the timid
lover of the other; they laughed over their own small sallies of wit,
over their joyous dreams of the future, over their opinions of the
guests invited to the wedding. Too joyfully restless to remain inactive
any longer, they jumped up again from the seat. One of them said,
"Polly, I'm too happy!" and danced as she walked away. The other
cried, "Sally, for shame!" and laughed, as if she had hit on the most
irresistible joke that ever was made.

Emily rose and went home.

By some mysterious influence which she was unable to trace, the
boisterous merriment of the two girls had roused in her a sense of
revolt against the life that she was leading. Change, speedy change, to
some occupation that would force her to exert herself, presented the
one promise of brighter days that she could see. To feel this was to be
inevitably reminded of Sir Jervis Redwood. Here was a man, who had never
seen her, transformed by the incomprehensible operation of Chance into
the friend of whom she stood in need--the friend who pointed the way to
a new world of action, the busy world of readers in the library of the
Museum.

Early in the new week, Emily had accepted Sir Jervis's proposal, and
had so interested the bookseller to whom she had been directed to apply,
that he took it on himself to modify the arbitrary instructions of his
employer.

"The old gentleman has no mercy on himself, and no mercy on others,"
he explained, "where his literary labors are concerned. You must spare
yourself, Miss Emily. It is not only absurd, it's cruel, to expect you
to ransack old newspapers for discoveries in Yucatan, from the time when
Stephens published his 'Travels in Central America'--nearly forty years
since! Begin with back numbers published within a few years--say five
years from the present date--and let us see what your search over that
interval will bring forth."

Accepting this friendly advice, Emily began with the newspaper-volume
dating from New Year's Day, 1876.

The first hour of her search strengthened the sincere sense of gratitude
with which she remembered the bookseller's kindness. To keep her
attention steadily fixed on the one subject that interested her
employer, and to resist the temptation to read those miscellaneous items
of news which especially interest women, put