Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-03-04

corning Annie's welfare. How these
instructions were treated, the sequel
will show.
with the full knowledge that it was
the last message she should ever send
her darling, the lady wrote a long let
ter to Annie, giving her full history
of her past, her parents death, her
brief sojourn in the orphan asylum,
her subsequent adoption and every lit
tie incident relating thereto. Then,
having told where all the papers con-
tanning the proofs of her identity
were to be found, the writer closed
with most touching and affectionate
farewell. Before the ink was dry on
the paper the hand that had penned
these loving lines was cold in death.
Had Annie Dupont received this let
ter it would have changed the whole
current of her life; but she was not des-
tined thus to learn her romantic his
tory. 1t CHANGED that the first person
ter lay was this servant, now the
housekeepcr and u woman of thirty
years. She read the letter and it in
creased her luminosity toward Annie.
She determined that her rival, as she
should never be known as Annie Du-
pont, never inherit her aunts wealth;
and she also determined, if possible,
to prevent her from inheriting the
smaller estate of her adaptive mother.
In that desk, jealousy guarded for
years, were all the documents on
which Annie Dupont's fortunes de-
pended; the papers that declared her
identity as Hamilton Dupont's daughter
and Mrs. Dunllirll's niece; the adop-
ton papers that made her the legal
heir of her kind benefactress; the will
of that lady in which everything of
which she died possessed was be-
queathcd to her adopted daughtcr-aQ
these precious papers lay within reach,
and only one living person knew of
their existence. And that one person,
because she hated Annie Dupont and
regarded her good fortune with jeal-
ousy as implacable as it was unreasona-
ble-that one person, unawed by the
presence of death, and too ignorant to
fear the legal consequences should her
deed be discovered, took possession of
those papers, and also the letter to An
ME, and hid them'away, eXulting in the
belief that she was thus avenging her
own wrong and disappointment.
"In her haste to secure these impor-
tant documents the woman had over
looked another letter which, lying on
the desk scaled and directed, was found
by the lawyer when he called few
hours later. This letter was addressed
to n lady in New York with whom An
mics adaptive mother had long been
been acquainted, asking her to assume
tho guardianship of the young girl.
The lawyer posted the letter immedi-
ately, and in answer to 1t an elderly
lady came down to the villa on the day
of the funeral, to signify her willing
ness to grant her late friends dying re-
quest. With this new guardian Annie
Dupont went to New York, where she
remained until her marriage five years
later.
Inquiry naturally arose as to the dis
position which the lady had made of
her property. AS there was no will to
be found, the estate passed through the
hands of administrators appointed by
the court and went to Annie, the sup
posed daughter
The household was quickly broken
up; the villa was closed and subse-
Patrick O'Gorman (thc cousin of her
late mistress coachman, Dennis O'Rcil-
ly), and went to Evansburg to live,
taking with her the stolen papers,
which she has preserved all these years,
never quite daring to destroy them, and
no doubt having an eye to n possible
speculation if any demand for them
should ever be made. Thus it comes
that was able at last to secure them,
and that they are now in the hands of
Hunter and kctchum.
And now, Mrs. Maynard" continued
North, speaking slowly and looking
earnestly at Mrs. Maynard, who, with
her hands still held in that tense clasp
and her eyes fixed upon his face, was
listening to him with rapt attention,
1.-The strangcst part of my story is vet
to come. For five long years Mrs. Dun
kirk was searching far and wide in the
hope of discovering some trace of her
niece, never dreaming that the young
girl whom she had taken into her heart
and home was the very one whom she
SO vainly sought; for Nina Kingsbury
and Annie Dupont are indeed one and
the Same, and the lady whose name /
have withheld from you until now
was Mrs. Kingsbury-your adaptive
motherr'
The thought, the suspicion, wildly
improbable though it seemed, had oc-
CURED to Mrs. Maynard's mind even
while North was speaking; she had in
one flash of divination perceived the
truth as he led her on step by step over
pathway as familiar to her as the one
that her own feet now daily trod; yet
when the actual statement fell upon
her ear she seemed to be incapable of
grasping its meaning. Looking at
North in n dazcd way she said, slowly:
81, Mr. NORTH am Annie Dupont?
1t cannot be! I thought it was Miss
Hilary! Have you made no mistalle?''
There is no mistake" returned
North, firmly bat quietly, for he per-
ceived that she was in danger of break
ing down under the conflicting emo
.