“I expect, before many weeks, to see my own precious bride.  I shall be indifferent as to her dress.  It will be herself I shall look at,” he said with a caress that for the time made me forget Mrs. Le Grande.

We went to the funeral, to which went also a good part of the townsfolk; for curiosity was on tip-toe.  Thomas was greatly mystified when Mr. Winthrop, leaving Mrs. Flaxman at Oaklands, bade him drive us back to Linden Lane.  Dr. Hill was there, and Mrs. Le Grande’s lawyer from New York, and Dr. Townshend, who had drawn her will, with the nurse and landlady, who were her witnesses.  Presently the lawyer put on his spectacles, and broke the seal, and then in a hard, dry voice began to read the will.  I listened with languid interest until presently Mr. Winthrop’s name was mentioned.  I looked at him with keen surprise.  Could it be possible Mrs. Le Grande had willed him the bulk of her fortune?  His face was pale, I could see no trace of a satisfaction one might naturally expect on the face of another at such unexpected accession of wealth; rather he looked grieved and shocked.  Before I had time to recover myself my own name was read off in the even, unimpassioned tones of the lawyer.  She left me her jewelry, pictures, and other valuables.  It seemed like one of the fairy tales of my childhood.  There was something pathetic, too, in the wording of her will:  “I hope they will adorn a happier woman than I have been,” as if that, too, were a legacy she bequeathed me.

The formality of reading the will ended, Mr. Winthrop asked for an immediate and private interview with the lawyer.  Afterward I learned it was to see if some informality could not be discovered, rendering the will illegal, but this was impossible.  He took the money as a sacred trust, expending the interest year by year on religious and benevolent objects.  Into many a heathen household has it already carried the blessed light of the gospel—­to many a burdened heart has it come to lighten the load of poverty and care.

The story of one memorable year of my life is told.  It was the prelude to many a happier year.