"Paul! Paul! what is the matter? You look as if you had been turned to stone by gazing on the Gorgon's head; Paul! Paul!"
"Miriam, did your mother know this handwriting?" he asked, in a husky, almost inaudible voice.
"No!"
"Did she suspect it?"
"No!"
"Did you know or suspect it?"
"No! I was a child when I received it, remember. I have never seen it since."
"Not when you put it in my hand, just now?"
"No, I never looked at the writing?"
"That was most strange that you should not have glanced at the handwriting when you handed it to me. Why didn't you? Were you afraid to look at it? Miram! why do you turn away your head? Miriam! answer me—do you know the handwriting?"