inst you.
That rule, at least, has been held inviolate."

Aghast at the mysterious perils she thus indicated in the path toward
which she was urging me, I for one instant felt an impulse to retreat.
But adventure of any kind has its allurements for an unoccupied youth
of twenty-one, and when seasoned, as this was, by a romantic, if
unreasonable, passion, proved altogether too irresistible for me to give
it up. Laughing outright in my endeavor to throw off the surplus of my
excitement, I drew myself up and uttered some fiery phrase of courage,
which I doubt if she even heard. Then I said some word about the doctor,
which she at once caught up.

"The doctor," said she, "may know, and may not know, the mysteries of
that box. I would advise you to treat him solely as a doctor. He who
uses the key you now hold in your hand cannot be too wary; by which I
mean too careful or too silent. Oh, that I dared to go there myself! But
my agitation would betray me. Besides, my person is known, or this ring
would never have been taken from me.

"I will be your deputy," I assured her. "Have you any further
instructions?"

"No," said she; "instructions are useless in an affair of this kind.
Your actions must be determined by the exigencies of the moment.
Meantime, my every thought will be yours. Good-night, sir; pray God, it
may not be good-by."

"One moment," I said, as I arose to go. "Have you any objection to
telling me your name?"

"I am Miss Calhoun," she said, with a graceful bow.

This was the beginning of my formidable adventure with the bronze hand.

II. THE QUAKER-LIKE GIRL, THE PALE GIRL, AND THE MAN WITH A BRISTLING
MUSTACHE.

THE building mentioned by my new-found friend was well known to me. It
was one of the kind in which every other office is unoccupied the year
round. Such tenants as gave it the little air of usefulness it possessed
were of the bad-pay kind. They gave little concern to their own affairs
and less to those of their neighbors. The public avoided the building,
and the tenants did nothing to encourage a change. In a populous city,
on the corner made by frequented streets, it stood as much alone and
neglected as if it were a ruin. Old or young eyes may have looked
through its begrimed windows into the busy thoroughfare beneath, but
none in the street ever honored the old place with a glance or thought.
No one even wasted contempt upon its smoky walls, and few disturbed the
accumulated dust upo