Page 257 (1/1)

She considered that it was very vexing and unfair in hi secrets, under the peculiar circumstances of her connection with him She went close to the cabinet As there was no keyhole, the dooropened by the unassisted hand The circles in the dust told her at which edge to apply her force Here she pulled with the tips of her fingers, but the panel would not come forward She fetched a chair and looked over the top of the cabinet, but no bolt, knob, or spring was to be seen

'O, never mind,' she said, with indifference; 'I'll ask him about it, and he will tell ain she thought it was absurd such a trifle should puzzle her She retraced her steps, and opened a drawer beneath the ledge of the cabinet, pushing in her hand and feeling about on the underside of the board

Here she found a s came of the pressure She withdrew her hand and looked at the tip of her finger: it was marked with the impress of the circle, and, in addition, a line ran across it diametrically

'How stupid of me; it is the head of a screw' Whateverthe puny cupboard of the cabinet, it had at soh substitute provided Stimulated curiosity would not allow her to recede now She fetched a screwdriver, withdrew the screw, pulled the door open with a penknife, and found inside a cavity about ten inches square The cavity contained-Letters fronatures, Christian na despised in Paphos) Letters fro that she wrote in answer to his advertisement A small pocket-book Sundry scraps of paper

The letters frolanced carelessly through, and then put theretted delusion, and curiosity requires contrast to excite it

The letters from his ere next exa with Manston, and the early ones before their e contained the usual pretty effusions of women at such a period of their existence Some little time after he had made her his wife, and when he had coain, and now their contents arrested her attention more forcibly She closed the cabinet, carried the letters into the parlour, reclined herself on the sofa, and carefully perused them in the order of their dates