Hubbard positively refused to take the gift, and Dick determined, at some future time, that the honest fisherman should be fully compensated for the important service he had rendered. Hubbard was a simple-minded man, and it is probable that he would have given the note to Dr. Bilks as readily as to Dick if he had happened to meet him first. He did not pretend to know much about the apparent controversy between Mr. Birch and Dr. Bilks, and he was certainly free from any bias for or against either. Dick requested the fisherman not to mention to any person the fact that he had found the letter, and Hubbard promised not to do so when assured that he might himself be injured. Returning to the wagon he proceeded on his journey to Summerville. He had enough to think of now; though the finding of the letter on the beach, while it confirmed what he had publicly stated, did not add much to his own knowledge. It was passing strange that Dr. Bilks should throw this letter away; it was more remarkable that it should have been preserved so long. Hubbard had volunteered the opinion that the paper had been rolled around a stone and thrown into the water; that the stone had fallen out, and the letter, all crumpled up, had floated, and been driven by the wind under the sheltering rocks, where he had found it. It was certainly more prudent to sink the letter with a stone, than to tear it up, and throw the pieces away, for some of them might be found. Why had not the letter been burned? Dr. Bilks must have written the forged letter in his office. Did he go over to the island with this letter in his pocket? or did he return to prepare it after Buckstone was killed? Dick adopted the latter theory as the more reasonable; but he made very little progress in his investigation, for the facts were too meagre to enable him to establish a single point. He reached Summerville, discharged his team, and procured another to convey him to Newington, where he intended to take the morning train, and where Eugene would not be likely to follow him. Dick went his way; went to Boston; went to New York; went to Philadelphia; went to Ohio; but we will leave him to pursue his inquiries, and return to Pine Hill. * * * * * “Marry Dr. Bilks,” repeated Eugene, as he drove home. Certainly the doctor’s frequent visits--all of which could not be regarded as professional--pointed in this direction. He was more than a physician to her, and yet Eugene had hardly thought of the possibility of such an event as his sister becoming Mrs. Bilks. He had hoped and believed that Dick would be his brother-in-law; but his friend’s sensitiveness had driven him from the field, leaving it open to the doctor.