"No one."
"Then if it is lost you cannot prove that such a document ever existed."
"It is not lost," said Atherton, "You know where to find it, and find it you shall."
"Calm yourself, or you will alarm the ladies. I have not got the papers you require, but you ought to have taken better care of them, since without them you will be unable to establish your claim to the Rawcliffe estates and title."
"No more of this trifling," said Atherton. "I am not in the humour for it. I must have the papers without further delay."
"I know nothing about them," said the priest, doggedly. "You tell me there were such documents, and I am willing to believe you, but sceptical persons may doubt whether they ever existed."
"Will you produce them?"
"How can I, since I have them not."
"Their destruction would be an execrable act."
"It would—but it is not likely they will be destroyed. On the contrary, I should think they will be carefully preserved."