Year: 1875

ing given up SO much, he would seek tt
retain all the advantages in life left t.
him.


Strange to say, however, Ben deliber
ately chose greater hardslips than HI
had ever before endured, weak ant
sickly as he still was, and all for what
only that he might always be near the
house in which has benefactors lived
| In the squalid regions where he ha6
previously existed, the poor boy ha6
frlends-poor as himself, but able and
willing to help him at pinch-and
could find a sort of shelter and crust
of bread at the worst of times These
he resolutely abandoned-frst, that he
may not be found, and second, that he
may breathe the same air his ''hangels'
did, and occasionally catch glimpse OF
their sweet faces, himself unseen.


In the fashionable street where the
Dalzells resided, Ben was utterly out OF
his element, and, especially at night, in
hourly danger of being arrested as a
vagrant. Yet night was the time when
he was always there. By day he piled
his trade in the parks and buster streets,
but when the shades OF evening fell, he
crept into the corner of an archway lead
ing to news, which was, fortunately,
nearly opposite the DalzelPs residence,
and hiding himself closely behind a
huge stone post, kept up a steadfast
watch upon the house until he fell
asleep.


What his purpose or his hope was in
this constant vigil, no one On earth has
ever known, for it seemed to himself
that he had no purpose or hope in it -
s'only he had to.


In the light of events that followed,
it would be scarcely rash to say that a
| higher power than his own will influence
ed his strange resolve. Be that as it
may, there he watched and slept night
after night for two long months, and
then there came night when, for the
first time, he was missing from his self
appointed post.


Singular to relate, on that very night
a terrible misfortune befell the Dalzells.
When the morning came, the parents
| sought their child-the little Anna, who
had SO pitied poor Ben-and 10 ! she
was nowhere to be found. Not in her
little house, not anywhere within the
house, not in any of the streets near by,
through which instant and frantic search
was made; and amid a passion of sobs
and tears, the half crazed nurse confess
ed to the quite crazed mother that she
had not seen the child since she had put
her to sleep at nine o'clock in the even
ing, having absented herself, without
leave, from the house for the rest of the
night at a merry making.


| All London rang with the news before
midday, for the curious reason Of the
Dalzell's visit to England had made
them well known in the fashionable
world, and was in itself strong cause
for suspicion that the child's disappear
ance might have been brought about by
foul play.


A certain wealthy gentleman had lived
to good old age as bachelor, and had
died without any nearer relatives than
| a nephew and niece. One of these
was Mrs. DalzelI, the daughter of his
brother, who had settled in the United
States many years before, and the other
was the only son of his only sister, who
had passed her widowhood in his house,
and died three years before him.
| All who had known Mr.. Edmundson
| supposed that he would leave his money
to his relative resident in England
namely, to Wyvil Moocroft, the son of
his sister-but when his will was OPEN
ed, it was found that while he had done
so in the body of the will, executed be-
fore his sister died, he had since revok-
ed the request by a condicil, and left it
all to the infant daughter of his niece in
America. Failing her, it was to be
equally divided between thenephew and
the niece; and it was this clause that
gave ground for suspicion that the little
Anna might have met with foul play
Sober second thought, however, soon
banished this idea, and before the day
was out, it's falsity seemed to be terribly
confirmed. In the first place, Wyvil
MOocroft was in Paris, where he had
been ever since his uncle's death, and
though he had Interpolation of ssfast''
youth, no one had ever limited that he
was either dishonorable or base and
secondly, ere the evening came, news
was brought to the bereaved parents
that the body of little Anna had been
found in pond in a small park very
near their house.


Tt was now supposed that the child
had walked in her sleep, gone out at the
door at the rear of the house, left open
by the nurse to facilitate her own return
from the merry making, and having
crossed the garden, easily entered the
park, which was close at hand.


The rest of the sad tragedy was readi-
ly traced. She had fallen from terrace
above the pond, striking her head upon
some ornamental rockwork below. Her
face was terribly disigured by the sharp
rocks, but her blue eyes and faxen
curls, the little ring upon her hand, and
the quantity embroidered night-dress
shrouding her cold form, could not be
mistaken.


Little Anna was with the angels, with
whom, poor Ben had once compared Eer,