“Well, well, child, you’d never refuse, no matter what anybody asked of you. Put down the box, Helen, and she shall look as soon as she has finished the article she is reading,” Lady Ruxley replied.
Lady Randal obeyed.
“While you see about it, you may as well arrange the papers orderly; they have been turned over so many times that they are all in a muss,” she said, and then left the room.
Half an hour after, her reading finished, she took the box to a large table standing in the bay window, and began her work.
It was no easy task to put that promiscuous assortment in order.
There were bills of all kinds, letters and notes, and memoranda, all mixed with loose papers and envelopes.
She at length succeeded in finding the operetta, and then proceeded to arrange and tie up the letters, bills and other documents so that they need not get mixed again.
She had nearly finished her task, and the bundles were all neatly arranged in the box, when, taking up a small package, the wrapper suddenly gave way, and several little notes and papers fell scattering into her lap.
They were directed to different persons, and all in different handwriting, and Brownie could not help wondering how they happened to be in Lady Randal’s possession.
She began to gather them up, pondering upon the singular circumstance, yet too honorable to take advantage of her opportunity and gratify her curiosity, when her eye fell upon a note, the corner of which had been doubled back, revealing the writing within.