She moved toward her casket to put her gems carefully away.
She stood looking down into the box for a minute, then, as if impelled by some irresistible impulse, she laid the priceless stones all in a heap upon the table, when, taking hold of a loop, which had escaped the housekeeper's notice, she lifted the cushion from its place, thus revealing the papers which had been concealed beneath it.
She seized the uppermost one with an eager hand.
"I believe I will destroy it," she mused, "I am afraid there is something more in his desire to possess it than he is willing to admit, for he is so determined to get possession of it."
She half unfolded the document as if to examine it, when a sudden shock went quivering through her frame and a look of amazement overspread her face.
"What can this mean?" she exclaimed, in a tone of alarm, as she dashed it upon the floor and seized another.
This also proved disappointing.
"It was here the last time I looked! I am sure I left it on top of the others!" she muttered, with white lips, as, with trembling hands and heaving bosom, she overturned everything in search of the missing document.
But the most rigid examination failed to reveal it, and, with a cry of mingled agony and anger, she sank weak and trembling upon the nearest chair.
"It is gone!" she whispered, hoarsely; "some one has stolen it!"