It lighted on something that nearly startled her into an outcry. Could it be? did not her eyes deceive her?
She closed them for an instant in her excitement, almost holding her breath, while her heart beat tumultuously, the color came and went on her cheek, and she trembled until the paper shook in her hands; then opened them again to see it still staring her in the face—that name, her name, which only two days ago she had learned was hers.
“If Ethel Farnese—wife or widow of Adrian X. Farnese, and formerly of Jefferson, Clinton County, Indiana—or her heirs will open communication with Messrs. Tredick & Server, Attorneys at Law, No. — —— Street, Chicago, they will learn something to their advantage.”
How much that short paragraph told her! how much that was to her of intense interest, of great importance: her father’s Christian name, the former residence of her parents, and that some one else (who could it be?) was engaged in the same quest as herself!
Unless (but the idea of such a possibility did not occur to her at the moment, and when it did was quickly discarded) some other Ethel Farnese than her mother were intended.
No one was observing our heroine, no one noticed her agitation, and she had time to partially recover from it before facing the uncongenial and indifferent inmates of the house which was her temporary home.
Though inwardly in a whirl of excitement, she contrived to preserve a calm exterior while in the presence of the family, giving sufficient attention to the duties required of her to go through them in a creditable manner.
But it was a great relief when at last she was left free to follow her own inclinations and could seek the solitude of the room which she occupied alone in the absence of Mrs. Goodenough and Hetty.
This was not till her usual hour for retiring, but in her present mood sleep was simply out of the question. She sought her pillow indeed, but lay awake the greater part of the night thinking, planning, and full of conjectures as to the revelations which the near future might have in store for her.