As she finished speaking, Miss Matilda rose and having selected one of the keys which hung from her chatelaine, proceeded to unlock and open the casket, which proved to be full of legal-looking documents—deeds, securities and what not. From underneath these she presently drew forth an oblong envelope which she handed to Ethel. It was fastened on one side with a large red seal and on the other was endorsed, “To my adopted Niece. To be opened by her on her nineteenth birthday, or sooner should my sisters deem it advisable.—M. T.” Ethel’s hands trembled in spite of her. She looked at Miss Matilda with a pitiful smile. “Will not you open it and read it for me, dear aunt—if”—with a little sigh—“I may still be allowed to call you by that name?” “My child, it is _your_ place, nay, your duty, to open it and read what you will find written therein;” adding, with a touch of that old-fashioned phraseology which became her so well: “And I have never yet found my Ethel unresponsive to the call of duty.” Ethel said no more, but at once broke the seal and drew forth the enclosure, which consisted of a double sheet of letter paper closely covered with writing in a bold, masculine hand. The sisters, sitting bolt upright, one mittened hand laid across the other, looked on in silence. Having laid aside the envelope and straightened out the enclosure, Ethel said to Miss Matilda: “Do you wish me to read it aloud?” “My dear, that is entirely a matter for your own judgment. My sister and I are already cognisant of the contents, our brother having permitted us to peruse the paper previously to sealing it up.” “Still, I think I should prefer to read it aloud.” “As you please, my love.” A faint wintry smile lighted up the faces of the sisters. It was perhaps because they were so sad at heart that they smiled. It is a way their sex sometimes have. Without further preface Ethel began to read:— “MY DEAR CHILD,—When these lines meet your eye the hand that penned them will be dust. “Having reason to feel assured that my remaining span of life will be a brief one, I have deemed it best, in your interests, and with a view to any contingencies which may arise in the future, to draw up a clear and succinct statement of the circumstances which first served to bring you under the notice of my sisters and myself, and led to our taking charge of you, temporarily, as we thought at the time, and ultimately to your adoption by us.