"She said he was a boy; his mother would soon be forgotten; he would be my nephew, and I was respected," sobbed Hannah. "In a word, she was a special pleader in the interest of the man whose reckless haste had destroyed her!" "Yes; that was it! that was it! Oh, my Nora! oh, my young sister! it was hard to see you die! hard to see you covered up in the coffin! but it is harder still to know that people will speak ill of you in your grave, and I cannot convince them that they are wrong!" said Hannah, wringing her hands in a frenzy of despair. For trouble like this the minister seemed to have no word of comfort. He waited in silence until she had grown a little calmer, and then he said: "They say that the fellow has fled. At least he has not been seen at the Hall since the arrival of his wife. Have you seen anything of him?" "He rushed in here like a madman the day she died, received her last prayer for his welfare, and threw himself out of the house again, Heaven only knows where!" "Did he make no provision for this child?" "I do not know; he said something about it, and he wrote something on a paper; but indeed I do not think he knew what he was about. He was as nearly stark mad as ever you saw a man; and, anyway, he went, off without leaving anything but that bit of paper; and it is but right for me to say, sir, that I would not have taken anything from him on behalf of the child. If the poor boy cannot have his father's family name he shall not have anything else from him with my consent! Those are my principles, Mr. Wynne! I can work for Nora's orphan boy just as I worked for my mother's orphan girl, which was Nora, herself, sir." "Perhaps you are right, Hannah. But where is that paper. I should much like to see it," said the minister. "The paper he wrote and left, sir?" "Yes; show it to me." "Lord bless your soul, sir, it wasn't of no account; it was the least little scrap, with about three lines wrote on it; I didn't take any care of it. Heavens knows that I had other things to think of than that. But I will try to find it if you wish to look at it," said Hannah, rising. Her search of course was vain, and after turning up everything in the house to no purpose she came back to the parson, and said: "I dare say it is swept away or burnt up; but, anyway, it isn't worth troubling one's self about it." "I think differently, Hannah; and I would advise you to search, and make inquiry, and try your best to find it. And if you do so, just put it away in a very safe place until you can show it to me. And now good-by, my girl; trust in the Lord, and keep up your heart," said the minister, taking his hat and stick to depart. When Mr. Wynne had gone Reuben Gray, who had been walking about behind the cottage, came in and said: "Hannah, my dear, I have got something very particular to say to you; but I feel as this is no time to say it exactly, so I only want to ask you when I may come and have a talk with you, Hannah."