The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-06-27

Gateshead-you start-did you
hear a nolse2 Mrs. Reed kept the
orphan ten years; whether II was
happy or not with her, | cannot
say. never having been told; but
at the end OF that time she trans
ferred 1t to Lowood school. The
orphans career there was very
honorable; from a pupil. she be-
came a teacher-she left 1t to bs
governess to the ward of a certain
Mr.. Rochester.
MIR. Rivers!" | interrupted.
~ can guess your feelings" he
said, but restrain them for .
while. OF Mr.. Rochester's char
acter | know nothing. but the one
fact that he professed to offer hon
orable marriage to this young girl.
and thar at the very altar she dis
covered he had a wife yet alive.
tho lunatic. The goyerness left
.Thornfield Hall In the night: every
research after her course has been
vain. Yet that she should be found
Is become a matter of serious ur-
gency; advertisements have been
put in all the papers; | myself have
received letter from one MIR.
Briggs. a solicitor. communicating
the details | have just impaired.
Briggs wrote to me OF q Jane
Eyre" he continued. "the adver-
tisements demanded a Jane Eyre.
| knew a Jane Elliott. You own
the name and renounce the alias?"
"Yes-yes but where Is Mr..
Briggs? What did he want3"
Merely to tell you that your
uncle, Mr.. Eyre, OF Madeira. 10
dead: that he has left you all his
property, and that you are now
rich-merely that. nothing more"
Here was a new card turned upi
How much am WORTH"
oh, a trifle. Twenty thousand
pounds, | think they say--but
what is that?"
1T Is a large sum-don't you
think there is a mistaken"
mo mistake at all"
Mr.. Rivers rose now and put his
cloak on.
stop one minute!" | cried.
"Well?"
| 1t puzzles me 10 know why MT.
Briggs wrote to you about me; or
how he knew you. or could fancy
that you. living in such an out-of-
the-way place, had the power to
aid in my discovery"
Another time"
mo, tonight! and
as he turned from the door
h,t I'm.
lie looked rather embarrassed.
81 would rather Diana or Mary
Informed YOU"
or course these objections
wrought my eagerness to climax:
gratified 1t must be, and that with
out delay, and told him so.
You are not, perhaps, aware
that | am your namesake? That I
was christened St. John Eyre Riv-
ers?"
mo, indeed! I remember now
seeing the letter II comprised In
Your initials written in books you
have lent me, but what?-"
l stopped.
| l knew by instinct how the mat
ter stood before st. John had said
another word, but cannot expect
the reader to have the same In
tuitive perception, so I must repeat
his explanation.
/ my mothers name was Eyre:
she had two brothers. one a clergy
man, who married Miss Jane Reed
of Gateshead, the other, John Eyre
ESQ.,, merchant, late of Madeira.
Mr.. Briggs, being Mr.. Eyre's solic-
itor, wrote to us last August to in
form us of our unele's death, and
to say that he had left his property
to his brother the elergyman's or
phan daughter, overlooking us, in
consequence of a quarrel, never
forgiven, between him and my
father. He wrote again a few
weeks since, to intimate that the
heiress was lost, and asking IL we
knew anything of her. A name
casually written on slip of pa
| per has enabled me to find her
out. You know the rest"
Again he was going, but set
my back against the door.
i do let me speak," I said.
your mother was my fathers sis
ter"
| "Yes."
you three, then. are my cous-
ins?"
1--WE are cousins, yes"
ooh, am glad!-I am gladl"
Exclaimed. Write to Diana and
Mary tomorrow" I said, "and tell
them to come home directly;
Diana said they would both con-
cider themselves rich with thou
sand pounds, so with five thousand
they will do very we'll"
Perhaps II you explained your
self little more fully | should
comprehend better"
Explain! You cannot fail to seq
that twenty thousand pounds, the
sum In question, divided equally
between the nephew and three
nieces of our uncle. will give five
thousand to each? What I want
is, that you should write to your
sisters and tell them of the for
tune that has accrued to them"
ITO YOU, you mean" st. John
insisted.
II need not narrate In detail the
struggles I had, and arguments
used. to get matters regarding the
LEGACY settled as I wished But at
last 1t was arranged. Diana ana
Mary gave up their positions, and