A NOTE FROM THE NARRATOR

THIS IS A STORY of fortune, which to my mind is not unlike a miscarried letter. It is passed from hand to hand, from mail carrier to mail carrier, from post office to post office in a desperate search for its rightful owner. Too often it remains undelivered, thanks to the postal service’s lack of perseverance or the smeared and cryptic handwriting of the address. Sometimes it is delivered into the wrong hands, and then it may as well end up in the dead-letter box, since the fate of one man can do no good—indeed, may even do harm—to another. But then there is that happy circumstance where, usually by sheer good luck, such a package falls into the lap of its intended, and a man receives what is justly his. Here is the story of one such happy coincidence.