[Illustration: Page 183. THE PORTRAIT.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE DEAD LETTER: AN AMERICAN ROMANCE. BY SEELEY REGESTER. NEW YORK: BEADLE AND COMPANY, _118 WILLIAM STREET_. 1867. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by BEADLE AND COMPANY. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS--PART I. CHAPTER I. THE LETTER, 9 CHAPTER II. EVENTS OF A NIGHT, 11 CHAPTER III. THE FIGURE BENEATH THE TREES, 23 CHAPTER IV. MORELAND VILLA, 34 CHAPTER V. MR. BURTON, THE DETECTIVE, 49 CHAPTER VI. TWO LINKS IN THE CHAIN, 72 CHAPTER VII. ELEANOR, 86 CHAPTER VIII. THE HAUNTED GRAVE, 94 CHAPTER IX. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY, 114 CHAPTER X. THE ANNIVERSARY, 132 CHAPTER XI. THE LITTLE GUEST AND THE APPARITION, 154 CHAPTER XII. THE NIGHT IN MORELAND VILLA, 176 CHAPTER XIII. THE SHADOW ASSUMES SHAPE, 188 PART II. CHAPTER I. THE LETTER, 199 CHAPTER II. OUR VISITS, 212 CHAPTER III. THE CONFESSION, 228 CHAPTER IV. EMBARKED FOR CALIFORNIA, 243 CHAPTER V. ON THE TRAIL, 252 CHAPTER VI.