But the tall, handsome form blocks her way, and shows no signs of yielding.
"Stay, one moment, Xenie," he exclaims. "Suppose I tell you that your vengeance is secure after all—that Uncle John's missing will is found at last?"
She whirls toward him, her dark eyes blazing with incredulous surprise.
"At last!" she says, with a stifled gasp. "At last! And who—who——"
"I found it," he answers, not waiting for her to finish the incoherent question. "He had hidden it, I cannot imagine why, in the most unlikely place in the world. By the merest accident I came upon it yesterday. Take it, Xenie. It secures your revenge to you now, beyond the shadow of a doubt."
He drew an official-looking document from his breast and placed it in her shaking hand. She holds it in a mechanical grasp, her dark, wondering eyes lifted to his proud, agitated face.
"Yes," he repeats, slowly, "your vengeance is now secure. Every penny of my Uncle John's vast wealth is bequeathed to you in the legal document you hold in your hand. I am left utterly penniless!"
But instead of the triumphant joy he expects to see in her mobile face, her look of wonder deepens.
"You found the will—you brought it to me," she says, with slow gravity. "Who knows of it besides yourself?"