The tragic fate of his brother's family, and his unavailing efforts to bring the murderers to justice, directed Mr. Tompkins' thoughts into new channels. The strange baby grew in strength and beauty every day. Its mysterious appearance among them continued to puzzle the family, and all their efforts failed to bring any light on the subject. The servant to whom was assigned the washing of the clothes the baby had on when found was charged by her mistress to look closely for marks and letters upon them. When her work was done, she came to Mrs. Tompkins' room, and that lady asked: "Have you found anything, Hannah?" "Yes, missus; here am a word wif some letters in it," the woman answered, holding up a little undershirt and pointing to some faint lines. Mrs. Tompkins took the garment, which, before being washed, had been so soiled that even more legible lines than these would have been undistinguishable; it was of the finest linen, and faintly, yet surely, was the word "Irene" traced with indelible ink. "As soon as all the clothes had been washed and dried, bring them to me," said Mrs. Tompkins, hoping to find some other clew to the child's parentage. "Yes, missus," and Hannah went back to her washing. "Irene," repeated Mrs. Tompkins aloud, as she looked down on the baby, who was sitting on the rug, making things lively among a heap of toys Abner and Oleah had placed before her. The baby looked up and began crowing with delight. "Oh, bless the darling; it knows its name!" cried Mrs. Tompkins. "Poor little thing, it has seldom heard it lately. Irene! Irene! Irene!" The baby, laughing and shouting, reached out its arms to the lady, who caught it up and pressed it to her heart. "Oh, mamma!" cried Oleah, running into the room, with his brother at his heels, "me and Abner have just been talking about what to call the baby. He wants to call it Tommy, and that's a boy's name, ain't it, mamma?" "Of course it is--" "And our baby is a girl, and must have a girl's name, musn't it, mamma?" "Yes." "I just said Tommy was a nice name; if our baby was a boy we'd call it Tommy," explained Abner. "But the baby has a name--a real pretty name," said the mother. "A name! a name! What is it?" the brothers cried, capering about, and setting the baby almost wild with delight. "Her name is Irene," said Mrs. Tompkins. "Oh, mamma, where did you get such a pretty name?" asked Abner. "Who said it was Irene?" put in Oleah. "I found it written on some of the clothes it wore the morning we found it," answered the mother. "Then we will call it Irene," said Abner, decisively.