"We were wondering if you could explain what became of Miss Margaret's papers and blank-books," began Mr. Cameron, constituting himself spokesman. "She tells me you have removed them. They are rather interesting, and I had come to-day on purpose to see them."
At this Sarah uncorked the vials of her wrath.
"You must welcome the latest member of the Antiquarian Club,
Miss President!"
"Ye do well to be askin' afther them dur-rty owld bits of paper filled so full wid ger-rms they was probably fightin' to hang on! I told her I'd bur-rned them up, an' I told the truth. If she don't get the typhoid-new-mon-i-ay, it won't be fur want of hangin' over them mouldy rags day afther day! I been watchin' her, an' don't ye fergit it! She ain't been well this month past—ever fur her. I guess she ain't told ye I'm up wid her the better part of every night wid the pain in her back! Even the docther don't know what's the matter wid her, she's ailin' so much worse lately. I ain't watched her all her life fur nuthin', an' I been watchin' her closer than ever lately, though she didn't guess it. I usually come up them stairs like a rhinoceros-horse—I know that! But I can come up pretty soft when I choose—an' take the time! I seen her draggin' these things out from behind the books, an' shovin' 'em back if she thought any one was comin', an' breakin' her poor back bendin' over 'em, studyin' 'em's though they wus made of gold! An' I says to meself, this has got to stop! So I jest took 'em out the other day an' burned up the whole clamjamfray of 'em. An' ye kin say what ye like about their bein' interestin',—I don't believe it! The dur-rty, disgustin' owld rubbish!" And with this final shot, Sarah turned and tramped heavily out of the room, leaving an astonished and speechless group behind her.
The remaining time that Corinne and her father were there was spent in comforting Margaret. There was no denying that Sarah had finally, definitely, and fatally ruined every hope they had cherished of disclosing to the world a new and startling historical discovery. And Mr. Cameron was more bitterly disappointed than he dared to show. But he tried to cheer Margaret as best he could, and when he came to go, he left her with this pleasant consolation:
"Never mind about the original journal now. That's gone, and no good ever did come of crying over spilt milk! Remember that the mystery remains, just as good as ever it was, and it is still the business of the Antiquarian Club to solve it! I, the latest member, am just as interested as the rest of you. Some day—mark my words!—we're going to fit the pieces of this puzzle together!"