Arizona republican., 1898-11-29
A Gittle Comedy
 of Errors
(Continued From Yesterday.)

soon to fall suddenly upon her. When
 at last. summoned by the telegram
 which. like a thundcrbolt from clear sky. had startled her out of the routine of her busy school life. she reached her
 home on the Hudson. she was too late
 to receive the loving farewell of the ono who had been her dearest earthly friend
 The end had come almost without
 warning. bnt it seems that the lady had felt q presentiment of her impending fate, and had sent for her lawyer i'll order to make every provision for Annie's future. Unfortunately he was absent from home and could not re spnnd to the summons in time to re- ecive from her lips her last instructions. | The only person who was with the lady at her death WAS the girl whom have already mentioned. This girl. who had been with Annie and her mother during all tl'"ir long NvandpripgS in Europe. was the only one of the present house hold who knew the history of the adopted child; it was she who received the final directions of her mistress con corning Annie's welfare. How these instructions were treated, the sequel will shOw.
 With the full knowledge that it was | lhc last nlcsSagc she should ever send her darling, the lady wrote long let ter to Annie. giving her q fnll history If her past. her parnuts' death, her brief sojnurn in the orphan asylum. her subsequent adoption and every lit tie incident relating thereto. Then, having told where all the papers con 1 taining tue proofs of her identity l with most touching and affrctiOnatc : farewell. Before the ink was dry on he paper the hand that had pcnned these loving lines was cold in death. i Had Annie Dupont received this let ter it would have changed the whole .rIrrent of her life; but she was not lcs- tined thus to learn her romantic hiSa tory. It chanccd that the first person who approached the desk where the let ter lay was this servant. now the 1ousekec ecpcr and woman of thirty years She read the letter and it in creased her animosity toward Annie. She determined that her rival as she still ahsIlr,.y considered the girl, should never be known as Annie l1u- 1ont. never inherit her annt's wealth; md she also determined. if possible.
  smaller estate of her adaptive mother. In that dcs:;. jcalously guarded for years. were all the documents on which Annie Dup2nt's fortunes de- 0cnded: the papers that declared her identity as Hamilton Dupont daughter and Mrs nunkirlt's niece: thc adop- ion papers that made Tier the legal lcir of her kind benefactrcss: the will of that lady in which everything of which she died possessed was be- lucathed to her adopted daughter-all hose precious papers lay within reach. lrd only one living person knew of ,hcir existence. And that one person. oecausc slc hated Anrie Dupont and -egardcd her good fortune with a jcal- busy as implacable as it was unrcasona- olc-that one person, u1aUcl by the presence of death. and too ignorant to fear the legal consee; uonces should her Iced Bc discovered. took possession of those papers. and also the letter to An 1i2. and hid them away, clultiug in the belief that she vas thus averaging her ovvn wrong and disappointment
 Tn her haste to secure tllc:i2 impor- tant documents the wou5an had over looked another letter which. lying on .hc desk sealed and directed, was found oy the lawyer when he called a few hours later. Thi; letter was addressed % a lady in Few York with whom An lic's adoptive mother had long been been acquainted. asking Ter to assume he guardianship of the young girl The lawyer posted the letter irlmedi- 1tcly. and in answer to it an elderly ady came down to the villa on the day 1f the funeral, to signify her willing ness to grant her late friends dying re- lucst With this new guardian Annie Dupont went to New York, where she 'cmaincd until her marriage five years ater.
 Inquiry naturally arose as to the dis position which tie lady had made of Ter property. As there was no will to Dc found, the estate pas:scd through the lands of administrators appointed by Inc court and went to Annie f sup posed daughter.
 Tho household was quickly broken ID; the villa was closed and subsc- luently sold; the housclleeper married Patrick C'Gcrman (the cousin Of her ate mistress cOachman. Dennis O'Rcil- | y). and went to Evansburg to live. | ,aling with her the stolen papers. which she has preserved all these years. never quite daring to destroy them. and | 70 dorlt having aa eye to q possible speculation if any demand for them should ever be made. Thus it comes ! that l was able at last to secure them. md 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, 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