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The circumstances attending the rich man's death could
not be concealed from the public, however anxious his
wretched family were to hide them, and as one detail after
another came to light in the suicide's history, the verdict
of public opinion soon fully convicted him of both his previous
crimes. His family, although thus covered with obloquy,
made for a few months a desperate resistance to the
suit instituted against them, for the wealth which they still
wielded enabled them to do this, but the cause could not
long be kept from trial, and the proof was too overwhelming
to admit of parrying or rebutting. Werter's fate, and
the general belief in his guilt, may have had something to
do with the promptness and evident pleasure with which
the jury rendered a verdict wresting the great estate from
his family, but that verdict was rendered on strictly legal
grounds. It was sustained, too, despite all efforts for revision
or reversal, and in less than six months from the time
that Edward landed in New York, he was in full possession
of his property. Mrs. Werter, of course, was entitled to a
life-estate in one-third of the lands and tenements, but
there was no division between mother and son. The young
man, with his parent's hearty consent, promptly and with
alacrity proceeded to the fulfilment of the promises which
he had made in his letter to Addison, very greatly to the
astonishment and delight of some of the recipients of his
bounty, who knew nothing of his intentions. He procured

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from Mr. Perth the will which that gentleman had drawn
for Sidney to sign, and which had been read to and approved
by him, and every bequest which it contained was
sacredly regarded, with the single exception of that to Addison.

“We cannot afford you all the remainder,” he said,
laughingly, to his friend, “but I have directed Mr. Perth
to make out a conveyance to you in fee, of one undivided
half of all the residue, after enough has been sold to make
the legacies good.”

Addison remonstrated with great earnestness. “It was
foolishly romantic and absurd,” he said. “Such a thing
was never heard of.”

Edward cared nothing for that.

“Let it then be heard of now for the first time,” he said,
“that a man should keep his plighted word, and give a superfluous
half of his wealth to the friend to whom he owes
it all. But for you, Addison, I should never even have
known of my rights, much less should I have acquired them.
Besides, were not your first thoughts given to my advancement,
when you believed you were to be the possessor of
this wealth?”

“I did not mean to give you half.”

“Nor was there any reason why you should. You owed
me nothing; I owe everything, under Providence, to you.”

“But your proposition would make me richer than yourself,
for my share would be equal to both yours and your
mother's.”

“That objection shall be obviated then, so as to make
your interest and mine strictly equal, and that must satisfy
your scruples. Indeed, Addison,” he added, after a brief
pause, and coloring a little, “we are all likely to be one
family, and my gift to Lizzie will prove rather a form than

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anything else, for she has some weeks since consented to
become my wife.”

“You may do what you will with me then,” replied the
delighted brother, who had hoped for, but had not felt certain
of this event; “but I assure you that the titles of your
lands and tenements shall rest so loosely in my hands, that
they shall return to you or Lizzie at all times, at the least
shadow of a bidding.”

“And we will not hesitate to ask, when we want them.
So let it rest there.”

This arrangement was immediately carried into effect,
nor did the lawyer, Mr. Perth, by whom all the necessary
documents were written, and who had in so many ways
served Addison and his friends, fail of a rich remembrance
from the young capitalists. He became also the agent of
both in the management of their estates, which of itself secured
to him a highly lucrative business.

Suddenly and brilliantly the sun of prosperity had arisen
upon the night of affliction which had so long involved the
pure-hearted and unrepining family, and dazzling as were
its rays, they gave promise of as much permanence as ever
pertains to this world of change. To none was the transition
so entire and so perfect, as to the beautiful daughter
of Captain Jay, whose charms of person and youthful elasticity
of heart remained unimpaired, and the first freshness
of whose affections were accorded to her generous and deserving
suitor. Nor is it any hyperbole to say that that
suitor prized the gentle heart he had won, incomparably beyond
all else that he had gained by his visit to the American
metropolis. Wealth may take wings, or may cease to
confer pleasure, but true affection is an acquisition of the
soul, and partakes of its undying character. There was no
reason for any material delay of so auspicious a union, nor
was it long deferred. Lizzie became a bride, and

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accompanied her young husband on a visit to Barbadoes, where he
desired to make some business arrangements preparatory
to taking up his residence in New York. He had also
friends there to be remembered, and to receive some of the
overflowings of that golden treasury, which he valued the
more highly because he could impart it, and because he had
learned the truth of the Gospel maxim, that it is more
blessed to give than to receive.

Addison employed part of his time during their absence,
in preparing a house for the residence of both families, for
they had determined to live together, and he had ample
leisure to gratify a refined taste in the adornments of that
home which was to receive and to surprise his returning
friends. There was also something else to show them, on
which he had bestowed still greater attention, and which
had cost him countless tears, less of grief than of gratified
affection. It was a monument to Sidney, on which the
rarest powers of art had been bestowed to symbolize the
purity of his lost friend and the fervency of surviving love.

“This should have been my work,” exclaimed Edward,
in a tone of self-reproach, as with his weeping bride he
bent over the tomb of his unknown brother. “But Addison
anticipates me in everything that is good.”

Little remains to be told of this eventful history. The
wife and daughters of the wretched man, whose machinations
had caused so many vicissitudes both to himself and
others, did not long remain in New York. They removed
to a Western State, not by any means in a destitute condition,
for the new heir had not suffered any very strict inquisition
to be made for past receipts. A considerable
part of Ralph's great income had been regularly re-invested
in real estate, but whatever else remained to his family,
either in money or moveables, they were allowed to retain
and carry with them to their new home, whence no reliable

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tidings of their fate were ever received by their former acquaintances.

Captain Jay and his wife lived to participate for many
years in the happiness of their children, and although the
former never entirely recovered his sight, enough of vision
returned to him to enable him, a few years subsequent to
Lizzie's marriage, to discern dimly the fair features of yet
another bride, who called him father, and for whose excellence
the word of his ever-truthful son was sufficient guarantee.

Addison was married, and it need scarcely be said that
one who could inspire affection in so noble a heart was also
capable of appreciating and rewarding it.

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