“If Lemuel Murrey, or his sister Arathusa, are still living, if he, or in case of his death, she will come immediately to the town of ——, and call at office No. 24, information will be given of great interest and importance. Country editors will please insert this paragraph, several times, and send us their account.”
“Why, Miss Thusa,” cried Louis, flourishing the paper over his head, “somebody must have left you a fortune. Only hear—of great importance! Let me be the first to congratulate you,” bowing almost to her feet.
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Miss Thusa, “I have not a relation, that I know of, this side of the Atlantic, and if I had, they would not be worth a cent in the world. It must be an imposition,” and she looked sharply at Louis through her lowered glasses.
“Upon my honor, Miss Thusa, I know nothing about it,” asserted Louis. “I never saw it till you pointed it out to me. Whatever it means, it must be genuine. Do you not think so, father?”
“I see no room to imagine any thing like deception here,” said Mr. Gleason, after examining the paper. “I think you must obey the summons, Miss Thusa, and ascertain what blessings Providence may have in store for you.”
“Well,” said Miss Thusa, with decision, “I will go to-morrow. What time does the stage start?”
“Soon after sunrise,” replied Mr. Gleason. “But you cannot undertake such a long journey alone. You have no experience in traveling in cars and steamboats, and, at your age, you will find it very fatiguing. We can accompany you as far as New York, but there we must part, for I am compelled to return without any delay. Louis, too, is obliged to resume his college studies. The young doctor cannot leave his patients. Suppose you invest some one with legal authority, Miss Thusa, to investigate the matter?”
“I shall go myself,” was the unhesitating answer. “As for going alone, I would not thank the King of England, if there was one, for his company—though I am obliged to you for thinking of my comfort. I know I’m getting old, but I should like to see the man, woman or child in this town, or any other, that can bear more than I can. I always was independent, thank the Lord. After living without the help of man this long, I hope I can get along without it at the eleventh hour. As to its being a money concern, I don’t believe a word of it, and I wouldn’t walk across the room, if it just concerned myself alone; but when I see the name of my poor, dead brother, I feel a command on me, just as if I saw it printed on tablets of stone, by the finger of the Lord Himself.”
The next morning the travelers were to commence their journey, with the unexpected addition of Miss Thusa’s company part of the way. When her baggage was brought down, to the consternation of all she had her wheel, arrayed in a traveling costume of green baize, mounted on the top of her trunk, and no reasoning or persuasion could induce her to leave it behind.
“I’m not going to let the Goths and Vandals get possession of it,” she said, “when I’m gone. I’ve locked it up every night since the ruin of my thread, and—”