It has happened of late that several of my books have been more or less criticised for improbabilities attached either to a character, or some event selected from the rest of the book as too extravagant for belief or for the harmonies of true art. Now, singular enough, in every instance, the events or characters selected for these criticisms have been facts in themselves, or portraits drawn from persons well known to myself and others. If such criticism should fall on the character of Madame De Marke, I may perhaps be permitted to state that this woman has lived within the last fifteen years, and was well known in a certain neighborhood in the city of New York for her wealth, her eccentricity, and her avaricious habits. Her person, her manner of life, and her extreme parsimony, are in no respect overdrawn. The room in which she lived and died is described exactly as she inhabited it in 1849. Of course, the events of the story which runs through this volume are not absolute facts, but the character of the woman, improbable as it may seem, is the _vraisemblance_ of a real individual. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I.— A WARD IN BELLEVUE 25 II.— MARY MARGARET DILLON 31 III.— THE HOSPITAL NURSE 35 IV.— MADAME DE MARKE 39 V.— THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE 44 VI.— THE DIAMOND EAR-RINGS 48 VII.— THE TWO INFANTS 54 VIII.— THE VIAL OF WHITE MEDICINE 57 IX.— EARLY IN THE MORNING 62 X.— THE VELVET PRAYER-BOOK AND ITS CONTENTS 66 XI.— JANE KELLY FINDS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE 73 XII.— THE CONFERENCE IN MRS. JUDSON’S CHAMBER 78 XIII.— MRS. JUDSON DISTRIBUTES THE FUNDS 82 XIV.— THE SAINT AND THE SINNER 91 XV.— PREPARING FOR THE FUNERAL 98 XVI.— PARTING WITH THE CHILD 105 XVII.— WHERE COULD SHE GO? 110 XVIII.— TURNED OUT-OF-DOORS 118 XIX.— MEMORIES AND RESOLUTIONS 122 XX.— ALL ALONE 126 XXI.— DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND 130 XXII.— THE ODD EAR-RING 133 XXIII.— A FRIEND IN NEED 138 XXIV.— MARY MARGARET DILLON’S SHANTY 142 XXV.— SEEKING FOR HELP 150