The door was hardly closed upon them, when she resumed her seat beside her husband.

“Well, has the doctor discovered anything?” she asked, anxiously.

Instead of answering, Mr. Hersebom took the letter from his pocket, and read it aloud, but not without hesitating over some words which were strange to him: 

“My dear Hersebom,” wrote the doctor, “it is now two years since you intrusted your dear child to my care, and every day I have had renewed pleasure in watching his progress in all the studies that he has undertaken.  His intelligence is as remarkable as his heart is generous.  Erik is truly one of nature’s nobleman, and the parents who have lost such a son, if they knew the extent of their misfortune, would be objects of pity.  But it is very doubtful whether his parents are still living.  As we agreed, I have spared no efforts to discover them.  I have written to several persons in England who have an agency for making special researches.  I have had advertisements inserted in twenty different newspapers, English, Irish, and Scotch.  Not the least ray of light has been thrown upon this mystery, and I have to confess that all the information which I have succeeded in procuring has rather tended to deepen the mystery.

“The name ‘Cynthia,’ I find in very common use in the English navy.  From Lloyd’s office, they inform me, that there are seventeen ships, of different tonnage, bearing this name.  Some of these ships belong to English ports, and some to Scotland and Ireland.  My supposition concerning the nationality of the child is therefore confirmed, and it becomes more and more evident to me that Erik is of Irish parentage.  I do not know whether you agree with me on this point, but I have already mentioned it to two of my most intimate friends in Stockholm, and everything seems to confirm it.

     “Whether this Irish family are all dead, or whether they have some
     interest in remaining unknown, I have not been able to discover any
     trace of them.

“Another singular circumstance, and which I also think looks still more suspicious, is the fact that no shipwreck registered at Lloyd’s, or at any of the marine insurance companies, corresponds with the date of the infant’s arrival on your coast.  Two vessels named ‘Cynthia’ have been lost, it is true, during this century; but one was in the Indian Ocean, thirty-two years ago, and the other was in sight of Portsmouth eighteen years ago.

     “We are therefore obliged to conclude that the infant was not the
     victim of a shipwreck.

     “Doubtless he was intentionally exposed to the mercy of the waves. 
     This would explain why all my inquiries have been fruitless.