“Where did she go? She must have had some especial place in view when she started.” “She said she was going to Richmond to serve as governess in some family; that was the last I ever heard of her.” Everet Mapleson’s eyes glowed. “Aha!” he thought; “who knows but what I have at last found a clew to the fellow’s birth? “Dale, Dale,” he, too, repeated thoughtfully, “wasn’t that the name of that queer old codger who was to have had Uncle Jabez’s fortune, if you and father didn’t fulfill the conditions of his will?” “Yes, Robert Dale. He was a cousin of Uncle Jabez, and considerably younger than he, and I suppose he would have had all the money, if your father and I had been contrary.” “It was the most eccentric will I ever heard of,” said Everet, musingly. “It was indeed.” “What could have prompted him to make it?” “Your father was his brother’s only son. and the last of the Maplesons. I was a favorite niece, the daughter of his sister, and I suppose he did not wish the wealth which it had taken so many years to accumulate, to be divided, yet he desired to have it benefit his relatives, and so took this way to accomplish it.” A little sigh escaped Mrs. Mapleson as she concluded. Her son noticed it, and shot a searching glance into her face. “Mother,” he said, as if some strange thought had suddenly come to him, “it has never occurred to me before, but were the conditions of that will obnoxious to you?” Mrs. Mapleson colored a vivid red at this unexpected question. “You are touching upon rather delicate ground, Everet, and this is hardly the time or place for the discussion of such a matter,” she replied, gravely; “but since you have asked the question, I will tell you the truth about it.” “You need not tell me anything if the subject is painful to you,” interrupted her son, whose love for his mother was the noblest trait in his character.