new wing cost thousands of dollars and was furnished like a palace, so I am told; but the flames destroyed every vestige of the beautiful house, and the pictures and statues.  It seems that it was heavily insured, but money can’t buy the old portraits and family silver, the mahogany and glass, and the yellow damask—­that have been kept in the Dent family since George Washington was a teething baby; and Miss Patty wails loudest over the loss of an old, old timey communion service, that the Dents boasted Queen Anne gave to one of them, who was an Episcopal minister.  The poor old soul is almost crazy, I hear, and Mr. Dunbar carries her to New York to-morrow, where she has a nephew living; and next month she will go to Europe to join Miss Gordon.  It is reported in town, that when Judge Dent died so suddenly, Miss Patty sent a cable telegram to her niece to come home; but early yesterday, just before the fire, an answer came by cable, asking Miss Patty to come to Europe.  Some people think Mr. Dunbar intends escorting her, and that when he meets Miss Gordon, the marriage will take place over there; but I never will believe that, till it happens.”

She peered curiously into the face of her listener, but the light was too dim to enable her to read its expression.

“Why not?  Under the circumstances, such a course seems eminently natural and proper.”

“Do you really think he intends marrying?”

“I am the confidant of neither the gentleman nor the lady; but you told me long ago, that a marriage engagement existed between them; and since both have shown me much kindness and sympathy, I sincerely hope their united lives may be very happy.  If Mr. Dunbar searched the universe, he could scarcely find Miss Gordon’s equal, certainly not her superior; and he cannot fail to appreciate his good fortune in winning her.”

Mrs. Singleton lifted her shoulder significantly.  “Perhaps! but you can never be sure of men.  They are about as uncertain calculations as the hatching of guinea eggs, or the sprouting of parsley seed.  What is theirs can’t be worth much; but what belongs to somebody else, is invaluable; moreover, they are liable to sudden tantrums of sheer obstinacy, that hang on like whooping-cough, or a sprain in one’s joints.  Did you never see a mule take the sulks on his way to the corn crib and the fodder rack, and refuse to budge, even for his own benefit?  Some men are just that perverse.  Mr. Dunbar is trailing game, worth more to him at present, than a sweetheart across the Atlantic Ocean; which reminds me of what brought me here.  He asked Ned to-day, if you saw Mr. Darrington yesterday when he came here; and learning that you did not, he gave him this paper, which he said would explain what the Legislature did last month, about declaring you of age.  Ned told him you signed some document Mr. Wolverton brought here last week, which secured all the property to Mr. Darrington, and he said he had been informed of the