"And the next?"
"The next is an odd volume of the Penny Magazine. Dear aunt Dorothy is rich in odd volumes."
"And the next,—my bulky friend number two,—with a cracked leather back and a general tendency to decay?"
"O, that is the Meynell Bible."
The MEYNELL BIBLE! A hot perspiration broke out upon my face as I knelt at Charlotte Halliday's feet, with my hand resting lightly on the top of the book.
"The Meynell Bible!" I repeated; and my voice was faintly tremulous, in spite of the effort I made to control myself. "What do you mean by the Meynell Bible?"
"I mean the old family Bible that belonged to my grand-mamma. It was her father's Bible, you know; and of course he was my great-grandfather—Christian Meynell. Why, how you stare at me, Valentine! Is there anything so wonderful in my having had a great-grandfather?"
"No, darling; but the fact is that I—"
In another moment I should have told her the entire truth; but I remembered just in time that I had pledged myself to profound secrecy with regard to the nature and progress of my investigation, and I had yet to learn whether that pledge did or did not involve the observance of secrecy even with those most interested in my researches. Pending further communication with Sheldon, I was certainly bound to be silent.
"I have a kind of interest in the name of Meynell," I said, "for I was once engaged in a business matter with people of that name."