He stooped and looked at the pretty things there, took up one or two and examined them more closely, then laid them back again in their place, and turned his attention to something else.
A mighty burden rolled from the fair girl’s heart as this danger was passed.
She had expected he would put every article in his pocket, and then perhaps turn the box upside down to seek for more; but evidently he did not care for plunder to-night. At last he came and stood before her.
“I have searched everywhere. It must be upon your person,” he said, with a desperate gleam in his eye.
She started from him with a look of terror.
“I swear to you that it is not anywhere about me,” she said. “As soon as I made a copy of it I went and hid it, though I could not then have told what made me do it. Now I know,” she added, thoughtfully.
He saw that she was speaking only truth, and in great perplexity he sat down to think.
“Is it in this room?” he asked, at length.
“I shall not tell you,” Editha answered, her courage beginning to rise as he became discouraged.
“Is it in this house?”