ardly imagine the huge pillared spaces without it.

To Violet, more or less accustomed to fine interiors, the chief interest
of this one lay in its connection with the mystery then occupying her.
Stopping for a moment on the stair, she inquired of Mrs. Quintard if the
loss she so deplored had been made known to the servants, and was much
relieved to find that, with the exception of Mr. Delahunt, she had not
spoken of it to any one but Clement. "And he will never mention it," she
declared, "not even to his wife. She has troubles enough to bear without
knowing how near she stood to a fortune."

"Oh, she will have her fortune!" Violet confidently replied. "In time,
the lawyer who drew up the will will appear. But what you want is an
immediate triumph over the cold Carlos, and I hope you may have it. Ah!"

This expletive was a sigh of sheer surprise.

Mrs. Quintard had unlocked the library door and Violet had been given
her first glimpse of this, the finest room in New York.

She remembered now that she had often heard it so characterized, and,
indeed, had it been taken bodily from some historic abbey of the
old world, it could not have expressed more fully, in structure and
ornamentation, the Gothic idea at its best. All that it lacked were
the associations of vanished centuries, and these, in a measure, were
supplied to the imagination by the studied mellowness of its tints and
the suggestion of age in its carvings.

So much for the room itself, which was but a shell for holding the great
treasure of valuable books ranged along every shelf. As Violet's eyes
sped over their ranks and thence to the five windows of deeply stained
glass which faced her from the southern end, Mrs. Quintard indignantly
exclaimed:

"And Carlos would turn this into a billiard room!"

"I do not like Carlos," Violet returned hotly; then remembering herself,
hastened to ask whether Mrs. Quintard was quite positive as to this room
being the one in which she had hidden the precious document.

"You had better talk to Hetty," said that lady, as a stout woman of most
prepossessing appearance entered their presence and paused respectfully
just inside the doorway. "Hetty, you will answer any questions this
young lady may put. If anyone can help us, she can. But first, what news
from the sick-room?"

"Nothing good. The doctor has just come for the third time today. Mrs.
Brooks is crying and even the children are dumb with fear."

"I will go. I m