Year: 1870

ure. L dld my best, and acquitted myself
so well that she shed torrents of tears, her
head resting upon my shoulder; but not
syllable did she utter which in the slightest
degree limited or betrayed that she had any
knowledge of the missing will.


Katie l said, when had exhausted
all my eloquenco, "you understand that no
one now will come into possession of your
uncle's property?"


"No one? she cried, lifting up her
head, and looking earnestly in my face. 81
thought, if there was no will, my father
would have everything You said he was
heir-at-law, and l should be great heiress.
1t will not signify if you do lose your situa-
ton, Harry | shall have enough for us
both and, if every one in the world
thought you guilty, should know you were
innocent


"But it will be thrown into Chancery in
stead Of coming to anybody said, cold,
hard feeling towards her creeping over me.


'But Chancery could do nothing, after
all, but give the landed property to my
father" she persisted "there can be no
nearer heir and if the will is lost, it is the
same as there being no will-if Chancery
has any sense she added, hale gayly.


Very heavy indeed, grew my heart at
tempted again to impress upon her The po-
sition in which her father, herself, and all
the relatives stood but she either could not
understand it, or would not believe it. If
it came to the worst, she answered, they
would all agree to some arrangement for
the division of the property, and her father,
being the eldest, and the heir-at-law, would
receive the largest share. She would be an
heiress, and why need I fret myself about a
paltry place in the Postoffice?


I could not, for the very life of me,
look her in the face and say, "Katie, is it
possible that you were over-tempted, and
took the will ?" Yet could not throw off
the growing conviction that this was the
truth. despair of conveying to you the
hundredth part of the maddening conflict
Of my feelings during the next few weeks
my love for Kate Lawrence, my disappoint-
ment, my strong desire to believe her inno-
cent, my pity for her, my close vigilance
upon every word and glance which fell from
her, and my terror lest the truth should be-
como known to any one else. There could
be no suspicion of her in any heart but
mine, which loved her so truly, and was will
ling to endure mistrust, cold looks ann
angry insinuations for her sake, yet which
every day was growing colder towards her,
and more full of severe judgments upon
her crime. Expectations were dying away
in the town, and hope was almost dead
within me.


1t was not possible to keep the secret any
longer from my father when he became
able to attend to business. A London sur
veyor, accompanied by detective, came
down to investigate the matter thoroughly :;
but they could learn no more than was al
ready generally known. 1t was a severe
trouble to my father, and serious conse-
quences threatened him in spite of his plea
of sudden and dangerous illness. The fact
that he was one of the executors told
against him with the strangers who were
appointed to investigate the affair for they
appeared to argue, that he might have taken
possession of the will, though it was illegal
to do so after it had once been posted, and
for some reason or other suppressed it,
throwing, the onus Of the loss upon the
Postof1ice.


When nothing could be discovered by
the surveyor or detective, old Lawrence's
relatives held a family meeting to consult
upon what was to be done. But it was not
very clear what the law would permit them
to do in such circumstances ; and there was
not one of them who would have agreed to
proceed as if he had died intestate. Every
lawyer in Thonbury had given some opin-
ion, and received a fee for it, upon the point;
but nothing was clear and certain.
Those were the most miserable three