The old man bent down, took his leather hand-bag from the floor, and placed it on the table before him. The exertion brought on a spasm of coughing. When he had recovered from this, he drew an old wallet from his pocket and took from it a key, with which he unlocked the satchel. Then, drawing forth a package and untying and unrolling it, he shook it out and held it up for Robert Burnham to look at. It was a little flannel cloak. It had once been white, but it was sadly stained and soiled now. The delicate ribbons that had ornamented it were completely faded, and out of the front a great hole had been burned, the edges of which were still black and crumbling. "Do you recognize it?" asked the old man. Burnham seized it with both hands. "It is his!" he exclaimed. "It is Ralph's! He wore it that day. Where did you get it? Where did you get it, I say?" Craft did not reply. He was searching in his hand-bag for something else. Finally he drew out a child's cap, a quaint little thing of velvet and lace, and laid it on the table. This, too, was grasped by Burnham with eager fingers, and looked upon with loving eyes. "Do you still think me wild?" said the old man, "or do you believe now that I have some knowledge of what I am talking about?" His listener did not answer the question. His mind seemed to be far away. He said, finally:-- "There--there was a locket, a little gold locket. It had his father's picture in it. Did--did you find that?" The visitor smiled, opened the wallet again, and produced the locket. The father took it in his trembling hands, looked on it very tenderly for a moment, and then his eyes became flooded with tears. "It was his," he said at last, very gently; "they were all his; tell me now--where did you get them?" "I came by them honestly, Mr. Burnham, honestly; and I have kept them faithfully. But I will tell you the whole story. I think you are ready now to hear it with attention, and to consider it fairly." The old man pushed his satchel aside, pulled his chair closer to the table, cleared his throat, and began:--