for the adorning of various articles of furniture. | pense for my services), it had never occurred to me Amber is a resinous gum, and is found principally as possible that that splendid property of park and on the shores of the Baltic, swept there chiefly wood, cornfields and pastures, could be seriously emfrom the exudations of the pine forests on its bor- barrassed. Thus it proved, however, too sadly. Mr. ders. Coral is another material, the dark rich vari- Rockingham was observed by his daughters to fall ety of which has latterly been in little demand. In gradually into a low and anxious state of mind, and our youth we remember that the only color ever to undertake several journeys of whose purport they seen was that of the lip, a deep red; now the run were left in the dark. Still no warning was given is all upon the delicate pink tint, the color of the them, and no retrenchments attempted in their rose-leaf. A large drop of this color is worth from household, till their father caught the prevalent £30 to £40, and even the smaller pieces are worth fever in one of his tenant's cottages, where he was from £120 to £150 the ounce. There are white, yel- visiting the sick. Aggravating the disease by anxilow, and black varieties of coral, but they are of lit-ety of mind and depression of spirits, Mr. Rocking tle value. Mr. Emanuel gives some very valuable hints touching the means of ascertaining the identity of gems. As a rule, he says, stones, either cut or rough, which can be touched by the file are not precious stones. Again, he says, it is a very common practice to deceive persons by cementing a genuine stone on the top of a piece of glass, or a valuable gem, as the sapphire for instance, with a piece of garnet. These are so artistically formed that it is difficult to detect them. We are told again that passengers by the P. and O. Company's steamers are often taken in by the natives at Colombo, with blue and other colored stone cut in facets, and imported from Birmingham as doublets. False pearls, as a rule, are always larger than real ones; the holes which in real pearls are drilled very small and sharp, in mock pearls are larger, and have a black edge. Shan pearls are also much lighter than real ones, and much more brittle. There is a trick, too, in the setting of gems which is worth knowing. When jewels are set "open," the interior of the setting is enamelled or painted, to throw a tinge of color into the gem; and where the diamond is in question, and it has a yellow color, the inside of the setting is often of polished silver to correct this objectionable color. In the matter of pearls again, it often happens that these are somewhat different in color, which is easily perceptible when viewed separately. But when strung together they so reflect the light one upon the other, that these differences of tint are lost. The moral is, that when buying a pearl necklace, the purchaser should cut the string and examine each bead separately. As we cannot imagine any of our readers making such purchases upon their own judgment, this advice seems quite superfluous, as a professed valuer of gems would be pretty certain to take this precaution. THE SPECTRAL ROUT. - AMONG the many families ruined by the various troubles consequent on the Irish famine, there were few whose fall called forth more general sympathy than that of the Rockinghams of Moreland. Accustomed as people grew in that sad time to those great disasters, those social deaths, as we may count them, of a whole race together, there were few who did not feel more than an ordinary pang on seeing in the fatal lists of the Encumbered Estates Court the name of that beautiful castle, known throughout the land for the magnitude of the efforts of its owner to improve the condition of his tenantry. To me especially the shock was painful, for in my position of governess to Mr. Rockingham's youngest daughter I had learned to feel a most sincere attachment to the whole family. When dismissed about a year previously (with lavish recom ham soon lay at the point of death, and then the terrible truth was revealed. Adela and Florence were beggars. There was little chance that, when the encumbrances were cleared off, the sale of the estate would leave any residue for them, and this sale was now inevitable. A few months' delay took place; but at last all was accomplished, and the ruin of the Rockingham property was found to be hopeless and complete. Those who have never grappled with poverty, who have never known the meaning of the curse, In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground," never guess what may be labor cheerless and unremitting, whose only rest must be the grave. Still less have they dreamed what it is to be willing to work, and yet find not the means to earn that bitter bread. Such people may talk easily of beggary and ruin, but I knew better; and when I thought of the weariness, anguish, wearing anxiety I had endured even in the profession to which I had been educated from childhood, I asked myself how such troubles could be borne by those proud girls, nurtured in all the habits of lavish liberality common to the Anglo-Irish landed gentry. A letter which I wrote to Miss Rockingham, expressing my heartfelt sympathy in her misfortune, and proffering such poor services as might be within my limited powers, brought from her an answer, of which the following is a copy: "MY DEAR OLD FRIEND,-Your letter has done me good. That assurance is my best way to thank you for it. When we meet I shall tell you why your words awoke other feelings than those called forth by the numerous condolences of our connections and acquaintances. I write to you to-day to beg you will do us an important service, and it is some relief to me in my desolation to know how eagerly you will seize the opportunity of lightening our difficulties. Pray procure for us the two very cheapest rooms to be let in Dublin in any locality not altogether unfit for us to inhabit. We must have two rooms, because Florence and I have resolved to endeavor to sell articles of millinery, in whose manufacture we think we shall succeed better than in plain work or dressmaking, of which, as you know, we are sadly ignorant. I can hardly write calmly of such things. Only think of my darling, splendid Florence- I must not think of this. O, dear friend, how little did we dream in the happy years when I learned to be grateful to you for moulding Florence as no other governess could have done, that instructions so much humbler than those you gave her would ever have been needed! She would reprove me if she saw this letter. She is so brave, so calm,- almost gay at some moments. I have no temptation to repine for my own sake, for any other loss, while she is left to me, but for her sake it is all very bitter. Write to me when you have secured our rooms in Dublin, as we must leave Rmediately. "Ever yours gratefully, "ADELA ROCKINGHAM." im- sions and tolerably clean and cheerful, this therefore they agreed should be the show-room for their millinery. Behind it was a vast dining-room, gloomy and dreary beyond description, with its To this letter I returned in a few days the follow- leather hangings torn to strips on the walls, and its ing reply: great black marble mantle-piece all disjointed and falling to pieces. On the first floor were four rooms, three of moderate size, the fourth of the same dimensions as the dining-room. This had formerly been the state drawing-room, and in it yet remained two articles of furniture recalling its ancient splendor. In the central panel of the four windows which occupied its length there stood what had once been a magnificent buhl pier-table, and over it a mirror reaching to the ceiling, of which I had taken notice on first seeing the room. Nearly all the brass had been stripped off the table, and the gilt locks taken from its numerous drawers and openings, but it was so firmly fixed both to the wall and floor, and was of such massive proportions, that no one had been at the trouble of removing it. The looking-glass-as was the fashion in Ireland in the last century-was intersected in all directions by wreaths of flowers in carved wood, but from these the gilding had nearly all departed. On the summit were the shield and coronet of the House of Galtimore, which had become extinct on the death of the last lord, whose only daughter was the grandmother of Adela and Florence. "See," said Florence, gayly, as they were wandering through the rooms, and examining this solitary piece of furniture,-"see, Ady! There is our own dear old saltier between the four lions which we bear on our second and third quarters - I have it here on the ring you gave me. Why, we are quite at home, are we not, with our own shield over our looking-glass?" "MY BELOVED MISS ROCKINGHAM,-You judged me rightly when you said that I should eagerly seize the opportunity of doing you the smallest service. Immediately on knowing your wishes I set forth in search of such lodgings as might suit you, but was for many days unsuccessful. There are no really cheap apartments on this side of the town except in streets you could not inhabit. I have, however, been fortunate enough to find an abode for you which, I think, will be for many reasons more desirable than such a lodging as that of which you spoke. You do not know Dublin very well, as I remember, so you are probably unacquainted with the old quarter of the town near Dominick Street. It consists of large | houses, many of them still handsome and tenanted by respectable people, others much dilapidated and inhabited only by paupers. One of these streets is extremely quiet, having no thoroughfare, and the few large houses of which it is composed having few occupants. It would therefore be no improper abode for you; and when I found that the whole of your great-grandfather's-old Lord Galtimore's house was to be let for less than such rent as would procure you two respectable rooms on the south side of the city, I did not hesitate to engage it for you for the next year. I do not conceal from you that it is entirely destitute of furniture, and that the walls and ceilings are in sad condition from damp and dirt; but such as it is, your position in the house will be far preferable to any you could obtain elsewhere at the same expense, and I feel confident you will approve my choice. The old woman who has charge of the house lives on the opposite side of the street, and would act as your charwoman if you desired it. I asked her how it chanced that the price of so large a building could be so trifling, and she muttered something about the quality having left this part of the town, and the poor being 'afeard of the cowld in them big rooms.' I have I am afraid that in her heart Florence knew the some suspicion, however, that she is herself afeard' whole matter as well as Adela; but seeing her sister of something besides the cold, for she made great brighten up a little in speaking, she answered,— demur about entering the large back drawing-room, "What was the curse exactly? Was it not in and crossed herself vigorously when made an ob consequence of great-great-grandpapa Galty getting servation on the odd appearance of an old looking-possession of some lands belonging to a nunnery? glass still on the walls, from which nearly all the quicksilver has departed. I dare say you will see old Lord Galtimore in it some of these days! Dear Miss Rockingham, I am trying to give you a smile, but my heart is aching; I have so much, so very much to say to you about yourself and my dear, dear pupil, but I will not write it to-day. Tell me on what day I may wait for you at the railway terminus and bring you to S Street." "Yes," said Adela, with that pride of birth which always increases with the loss of worldly wealth, "yes, we are the only family entitled to quarter the Galtimore arms, and they are as old, it is said, as Sir Hugh de Morbihan, from whom their name of Malvern was corrupted. By the way, do you recollect that curious story of the curse on the first Protestant Earl of Galtimore?" 66 They say so; and then the Abbess gave him the most horrible curse, with bell, book, and candle. She said: "You have left us no peace in the cloister, and you shall have no peace in your bed, and no peace in your grave; you nor yours till the judgment-day. Wicked shall the Malverns live, and wicked shall they die, till their lands be given to others, and their wealth lost, and their name forgotten."" "That was a Christian-like sort of a curse, cerA fortnight later Adela and Florence Rocking-tainly," said Florence; "and as strange as any of ham were established in their new abode. At first those of the Barnwells or Kavanaghs." they hardly perceived or understood the nature of the life they were preparing to lead. Florence made immense efforts to seem amused with the new circumstances in which they were placed. She led Adela through the desolate rooms, debating with mock earnestness which of them should be devoted to the reception of their guests and which to their boudoir, library, and billiard-room. The front parlor of the house was of comparatively small dimen "The strange thing," said Adela, unconsciously suiting her voice, "was, that it was said the Malverns never did sleep like other people. They used to spend the whole night in the routs and card-parties then in fashion, and never went to bed till daylight." "Of course, then," said I, "they did not live very long, and so had an opportunity of soon trying the second part of the curse." Every Saturday, THE SPECTRAL ROUT. "No. The last Lord Galtimore died at thirty, | put aside their work, and prepared for sleep. There a famous old are few things in the world, to my thinking, more leaving all his property to his wife, lady in the traditions of Dublin. She was herself beautiful than that "going to bed" of two loving one of the Malverns, first cousin of her husband. sisters. Coleridge brings before us a pretty vision Of course Lord Galtimore expected her to leave of Christabel, the estates to their only child, Lady Florence; but she did nothing of the kind. As soon as ever Lady Florence was grown up, Lady Galtimore married her off hand to our grandfather, who it seems was too much in love to make any stir, at the moment about settlements." "Well, what happened?" said Adela, half-listening, half, like her sister, feigning to talk. 46 Why, Lady Galtimore lived on and on beyond all their lives, and in the most extravagant way, even for those extravagant times, driving always in her coach and six, with outriders, and going to the Castle in the most magnificent diamonds that were ever seen in Dublin. It was said she sold two estates in the north to buy them, not content with the old Malvern jewels. When she died at last our grandfather and grandmother were both dead, and our poor father a minor; there was nobody to look after his claims on the Galtimore property. All the lands were sold long before by the old lady, and this I have heard our house went to pay her debts. father say he often wondered what had become of the diamonds. They could hardly have been sold with the furniture; but the executors were not very trustworthy people, and he could never obtain any information on the subject." "I dare say he did not try very hard. It was not in his line, poor dear father!" "No, not at all. Let us come out of this cold room, darling, and settle ourselves in our bedroom up stairs as well as we can for the evening." The apartment the sisters had chosen for themselves was a small one over one end of the great drawing-room. They had procured a pretty bed and a few chairs and tables. On the latter lay so many little elegant articles of their toilet and writing materials with which they had not thought of parting, that, with the addition of several pictures on the walls, the room looked almost suitable to its occupants. They had taken their evening meal in their show-room on the lower floor, so they sat together at some work for which I had been fortunate enough to procure an order. At last Adela said, "Now, Florence dearest, do go to bed. You have done quite enough to-night, and it must be past eleven o'clock." 46 "Are you coming to bed, my Ady?" "Yes, of course, by and by. Fold up that cloak hair." your at once, now darling, and brush Now, Adela, I tell you once for all, that I will never finish my work at night till you finish yours; come to bed with me, or I so take your choice, sit up with you.” "Dear Florence, pray don't be obstinate. You know we must get on pretty fast with our work if it is to pay us at all. I could not sleep if I went to bed, so I may as well sit up a little while longer; but your eyes look quite heavy. Do go to bed." Not I, Adela. You would sit up till three if I The fire, which on that "Her gentle limbs did she undress, "O, thank you, Adela; that will be so nice! About an hour had elapsed, when Adela was awakened by sounds for which, in her state of She had been dreaming that she fatigue and half-unconsciousness, she was quite unable to account. was still at Moreland, and that the rooms were filled with guests as on the occasions of their old receptions. When she awoke it seemed to her that the She sat up in bed, painfully recalling, same sounds of conversation and laughter were in amid the darkness, in how different a home she was her ears. now placed from that to which the blessed power of of it; there were sounds in the house, and they prodreams had recalled her. There could be no doubt ceeded from the room below them. It is true they were not of an alarming nature, as they were, as I able distance from a party of well-bred ladics and have said, just such as might be heard at a considergentlemen. As she listened, Adela was sure she could distinguish in particular one manly voice with a peculiarly deep and unpleasant tone, and also at It was a terrible discovery for the poor intervals one sharp and treble, like that of an old woman. solitary girls, that there should be unknown persons in their house at night. They had wished to engage the old woman who had had charge of it to sleep down stairs as some protection, but she demanded so large a remuneration for the service, that they protection of their house to the excellent police of had been obliged to dispense with it, and trust the Dublin. Now, however, it seemed evident that a Strange to say, however, notwithentrance to it. number of people had in some manner effected an standing the evidence of her own ears, Adela did not feel quite convinced. There were sounds, it is true, and they were those of voices; but there was something in them which inspired her with a sense of vague terror, very different from that she would have felt at the distinct voice of housebreakers, were there never so much positive danger to be apprehended from them. In this state of uncertainty and fear, she turned instinctively to waken her sister, but she could hear in the darkness Florence's gentle respiration, and the arm which had been round her own neck lay so still, that she hesitated for a moment to disturb the rest the poor child required so much. During this pause, a change occurred in the sounds she had heard in the room below. The door seemed to be flung open, a single voice pronounced some word or two, and then there seemed a movement, and she heard many steps on the stairs. Could they be ascending? Adela's heart stood still with terror, while every nerve was strained to catch the sounds. No; they were not approaching, they were going down stairs. Then there was a distant door shut, and the sounds became so feeble, she could hardly hear them at all. "They are in the dining-room," said she to herself. "Merciful heaven! who are in it? What can all this mean?" The temptation to waken her sister was so great, that only a mind as strong as that of Adela's could have resisted it; but she reflected, that of whatever nature the sounds might be, Florence's knowledge of them could do no good, and would inevitably terribly excite her, at a time when she greatly required that her nerves should be calmed. If there were robbers in the house, it was probably the safest thing the sisters could do to remain as if asleep. Exercising then an immense effort over herself, Adela remained quiet for several hours, during which the sounds occasionally rose a little. At last, just before the dawn, there was one, thrice repeated, which seemed to the terrified listener something between a cheer and a yell of sudden agony. Then all was silent. no more ornaments; the last brooch and ring had disappeared from their own dress. One week I missed their father's writing-desk, the next their mother's Indian work-box was no longer to be seen, and after that I found that they seemed not to wish me to go into their bedroom; and I understood the reason when I saw at a picture-dealer's the beautiful portraits of their parents, with which they had parted last of all. It was a heart-breaking business. I took on myself to write to two or three of their friends, telling them the condition to which they were reduced; but one was absent on the Continent, another never answered my letter, a third was himself ruined. One only, and she a lady of small fortune, responded to my appeal by sending to Adela anonymously a ten-pound note. It happened to arrive while I was sitting with them; and when the sisters saw the money they both burst into hysterical tears, from which I had great difficulty to calm them. From this time things went rather better. They had sufficient work, though but poorly paid, and with the help of the ten pounds, they contrived to pass through the spring and summer. But O, how altered they were! so thin, so pale, so stooping! There were gray hairs among Adela's chestnut bands, and Florence's eyes looked dim and sunken, and her ringing laugh, once as frequent as the song of her bird, grew so rare, it startled me when I heard it. It was a most unhappy thing that the poor girls had no relations or connections who could or would help them, even so far as to ask them to their houses for a few days. The whole hot summer passed away, and they seemed to droop more and more for want of air and rest; and when the autumn came, and there were few people in town, their work grew slack, and absolute want stared them in the face when they were less than ever able to cope with it. You When the sun was up, Adela rose from her bed, leaving Florence still sleeping, and stole fearfully down the stairs. Often in her descent did she pause and listen, but not the slightest noise met her ear; One day I knocked at their house, bringing with and gaining courage from the growing daylight, she me a few of the little luxuries which my own poverty at last turned to look into the great drawing-room permitted me to offer. Florence opened the door, itself, whence the mysterious sounds had first pro-and, bringing me into the work-room, said: “Don't ceeded. Everything was precisely as she had left go up stairs yet. Adela is not very well, I made it. The one window which Florence had partially her stay in bed; it is nothing but a cold. opened was in the same state, and the other three shall see her by and by, but I want to tell you someclosed and barred. 66 Perhaps," thought Adela, thing." "the robbers may have entered through that window by a ladder.' It was not so; the sash had been long ago pasted down, and had evidently remained unopened for years. An examination of the rooms below was equally fruitless, and the hall door and back door seemed both perfectly secure. Utterly unable to solve the mystery, and having many other gares claiming her attention, Miss Rockingham dismissed the subject from her mind for the moment, resolving to consult me upon it as soon as she could do so without exciting Florence's attention. "Dear child," said I, "don't be so agitated. How pale you are! Sit down; I will stay as long as you like." “O Mrs. L—, you don't know, you cannot think what has happened! This horrible house! I dare not stay in it! And yet we must starve or go to the poor-house if we leave it. O, it is so very, very dreadful! It is no matter for me, I am strong, you know; but Adela-nobody knows what Adela is, what an angel of God she has been through all this year of misery. O that He would let me die and save her from all this agony!" The days and weeks which followed this event Poor Florence laid her head upon the table, and left little leisure to recur to the consideration of it. her whole frame shook with the violence of her burst Though the two sisters worked with an industry and of grief. I was greatly alarmed, but at last sucperseverance which soon left its traces on their fad-ceeded in pacifying her a little, and induced her to ing cheeks and heavy eyes, yet they were so unac- give me, though somewhat incoherently, the followcustomed to all the arts of the poor, that their in-ing account. comings always fell far short of their expenditure. "We went to bed rather early last night; Adela One after another each little luxury was dispensed was not well, and I persuaded her to do so. She fell with. Day by day, when I was able to visit them, into a heavy sleep; and then, as there was a great I watched with an aching heart the disappearance piece to be finished of that work which Miss Gof the few little relics of former wealth and elegance insisted should be ready to-day, I got up again and which they had preserved in the general wreck. stole down here to do it. Of course I lighted only Their bedroom had never a fire in it now, though one candle, and that was the reason, I suppose, why the weather was miserably cold; the toilet-table had | I grew so nervous, besides being very cold; but I Jan. 6, 1800.) kept my eyes from looking about the room, and went on, though I got worse and fancied all sorts of things coming about me. At last, it was no fancy at all, I most distinctly heard a noise in the rooms overhead It was not in the one over this, but in the great drawing-room over the dining-room. I heard first one sharp, querulous sort of voice, and then a whole set of other voices, among them one deep one, like the deepest organ." 66 Nonsense, dear Miss Florence, it was all your nervous imagination." Adela had confided to me in private what she had heard, but had never told Florence, and I was horror-stricken at the similarity of their stories. -- "No, no, Mrs. L- went on Florence, with increased vehemence, "it was no imagination, I heard the voices as I hear yours. I could not stir, my heart stood still; I sat there I don't know how long listening to them. I would have given the whole world to have been with Adela, but I dared not pass up the stairs. At last, you won't believe me, but it is true, I heard steps on the stairs - a great many steps-as if forty or fifty people were coming down and talking all the time. I think I fainted; I expected them to come into this room; and I don't know what happened till I heard them in the dining-room. Yes, there! through those folding doors! I tell you I heard them. There were voices of men and women talking and laughing. O, such awful, hollow, bitter sort of laughs; it made my blood run cold; and then there were noises of glasses, as if they were feasting. And this went on, went on, so long, I thought I had gone mad as I sat listening. At last there were three hideous sounds I cannot describe, and then it was all silence. What could it all be? What do you think it was?" "It was all your poor overworked brain, dear Miss Florence. I hope you did not tell Miss Rockingham." 66 Why, when I was at last able to run up stairs, I found her still asleep, so I thought I would wait till I could tell you." “You did very wisely. It must be all imagination; but you are not able to endure these lonely vigils, dear young lady. Allow me to come and sit up for a few nights with you, till your nerves are calmed. I am sure Lady F- will allow me to walk over when my pupils are gone to bed, and to return to F House in the morning." "You saw them?" "Yes, yes. Come in here. Come down, Ada." She called to her sister as she pulled me into the great dining-room. The shutters of this vast apartment were mostly closed, only where one or two of the hinges had broken and the boards fallen away; the dull, yellow light of the winter morning entered and displayed the dreary torn hangings on the walls, and the bare floor pierced in every direction by the rats. Just as we entered, the slight concussion of our steps caused the final giving way of one of the large black marble slabs in the ruined mantle-piece, and it fell to the ground with a shock and a reverberation which caused poor Florence to scream with terror, and even shook my nerves almost beyond control. Adela rushed in at the moment. "Merciful God! what has happened? Florence, my life, are you hurt?” It was touching to see the poor desolate children cling to one another, and at last find calmness in each other's arms. By degrees I led them to describe to me the events of the night, for their terrors, if unreal, could only be dispelled by examination; and, if real, some steps must be instantly taken to relieve them from such a position. what did I mean by "real"? But "We both sat up," said Adela, "in our bedroom, expecting you to come every moment, and getting on meantime with our work. Towards the middle of the night we began to hear sounds in the drawing-room below. Then Florence told me that she had heard them the night before, just the same as I told you I had done when we first came here. It was very awful; but as we were together, and the noises had never come anywhere but in those two rooms and on the stairs, we bore it as well as we could. Only there was one shrill woman's voice which, whenever we heard it, made me turn sick with horror. I cannot describe it." And Adela hid her face in her handkerchief. "They went down," said Florence, "as before, to supper, and then the sounds grew faint. All this time the night was passing, and we could not think why you did not come. At last I fancied I heard your ring at the hall door, but the distance is so great I could not be sure, and there were those fearful noises, like jingling glasses, from time to time, in this dining-room, which I might have mistaken for your bell." Poor Florence tried to decline my offer, but it "Florence wanted to come down to open the door was too evidently needed; and we parted with the to you," said Adela; "but it was more than I could understanding that I would, if possible, return at bear while those noises went on. At last there were eleven o'clock and share the apartment of the sis- three hideous sounds, such as there always are at the ters for the night, taking our turns to rest and work. end, and then all was silent. After some time we By a chance, which at the time seemed most un- took our candle and went down to open the door in fortunate, one of my pupils gave herself a severe case you were there. Of course we were frightened, sprain that evening, and as she lay moaning and going down stairs, and stopped at the landings to let fevered in bed it was utterly impossible for me to our candle light below us as far as it could, but we leave her. Her mother had gone out to a dinner heard or saw nothing till we came to the door of and ball at the Castle, and was not likely to return the great drawing-room, which was standing open till three or four o'clock, so that I was compelled to quite wide. I knew I had closed it when we went to send for the family physician myself, and remain bed, and we both stood before it, trembling, afraid beside the poor little sufferer till she fell asleep at either to go in or to go down past it, when there dawn. Full of anxiety for the consequences of an- might be some one there who might come out after other solitary night to the Rockinghams, I hurried, us. At last I thought, 'Well, we are in God's hands, as soon as possible, across the town to their house. though we seem so desolate'; and I resolved I would Florence met me at the door, her large eyes glitter-go into the room at any cost, and see if we could ing, her hand trembling with excitement as she led me up stairs. "O Mrs. L! It is true! There are beings God knows what they are in this house. Adela and I both saw them." find out any clew to this horrible mystery which will drive us out to starvation. Florence would not let me go alone, so we went in arm in arm, both holding the candle. At first we did not see anything different from usual; but when we were half-way |