daughter arrived at New York, I was again detained, myself, and sent her to this place under his care.  He lingered rather longer than he should have done, knowing the state of things; but I suspected nothing, for the idea of a clerk’s marriage with the heiress of the great Martinique estate never entered my mind; moreover, I have regarded her as a child; and I sent him back with various commissions at several times,—­once on business with McLean, once to obtain my wife’s signature to some sacrifice of property, and so on.  I really beg your pardon, Mr. Raleigh; it is painful to another, I am aware, to be thrust upon family confidences”——­

“Pray, Sir, proceed,” said Mr. Raleigh, wheeling his chair about.

“But since you are in a manner connected with the affair, yourself”——­

“You must be aware, Mr. Laudersdale, that my chief desire is the opportunity you afford me.”

“I believe so.  I am happy to afford it.  On the occasion of Mr. Heath’s last visit to this place, Marguerite drew attention to a coin whose history you heard, and the other half of which Mrs. Purcell wore.  Mr. Heath obtained the fragment he possessed through my wife’s aunt, Susanne Le Blanc; Mrs. Purcell obtained hers through her grandmother, Susan White.  Of course, these good people were not slow to put the coin and the names together; Mr. Heath, moreover, had heard portions of the history of Susanne Le Blanc, when in Martinique.

“On resuming his duties in the counting-house, after this little incident, one day, at the close of business-hours, he demanded from me the remnants of this history with which he might be unacquainted.  When I paused, he took up the story and finished it with ease, and—­and poetical justice, I may say, Mr. Raleigh.  Susanne was the sister of Mrs. Laudersdale’s father, though far younger than he.  She met a young American gentleman, and they became interested in each other.  Her brother designed her for a different fate,—­the governor of the island, indeed, was her suitor,—­and forbade their intercourse.  There were rumors of a private marriage; her apartments were searched for any record, note, or proof, unsuccessfully.  If there were such, they had been left in the gentleman’s hands for better concealment.  It being supposed that they continued to meet, M. Le Blanc prevailed upon the governor to arrest the lover on some trifling pretence and send him out of the island.  Shortly afterward, as he once confessed to his wife, he caused a circumstantial account of the death and funeral obsequies of each to reach the other.  Immediately he urged the governor’s suit again, and when she continued to resist, he fixed the wedding-day, himself, and ordered the trousseau.  Upon this, one evening, she buried the box of trinkets at the foot of the oleanders, and disappeared the next, and no trace of her was found.

“When I reached this point, young Heath turned to me with that impudently nonchalant drawl of his, saying,—­