“Immediately after the funeral, if it so happened that Carlos had arrived in time to attend it. But if for any reason he failed to be here, I was to let it lie till within three days of his return, when I was to take it out in the presence of a Mr. Delahunt who was to have full charge of it from that time. Oh, I remember all that well enough! and I meant most earnestly to carry out his wishes, but--” “Go on, Mrs. Quintard, pray go on. What happened? Why couldn’t you do what he asked?” “Because the will was gone when I went to take it out. There was nothing to show Mr. Delahunt but the empty shelf.” “Oh, a theft! just a common theft! Someone overheard the talk you had with your brother. But how about the key? You had that?” “Yes, I had that.” “Then it was taken from you and returned? You must have been careless as to where you kept it--” “No, I wore it on a chain about my neck. Though I had no reason to mistrust any one in the house, I felt that I could not guard this key too carefully. I even kept it on at night. In fact it never left me. It was still on my person when I went into the room with Mr. Delahunt. But the safe had been opened for all that.” “There were two keys to it, then?” “No; in giving me the key, my brother had strictly warned me not to lose it, as it had no duplicate.” “Mrs. Quintard, have you a special confidant or maid?” “Yes, my Hetty.” “How much did she know about this key?” “Nothing, but that it didn’t help the fit of my dress. Hetty has cared for me for years. There’s no more devoted woman in all New York, nor one who can be more relied upon to tell the truth. She is so honest with her tongue that I am bound to believe her even when she says--” “What?” “That it was I and nobody else who took the will out of the safe last night. That she saw me come from my brother’s room with a folded paper in my hand, pass with it into the library, and come out again without it. If this is so, then that will is somewhere in that great room. But we’ve looked in every conceivable place except the shelves, where it is useless to search. It would take days to go through them all, and meanwhile Carlos--” “We will not wait for Carlos. We will begin work at once. But just one other question. How came Hetty to see you in your walk through the rooms? Did she follow you?” “Yes. It’s--it’s not the first time I have walked in my sleep. Last night--but she will tell you. It’s a painful subject to me. I will send for her to meet us in the library.” “Where you believe this document to lie hidden?” “Yes.” “I am anxious to see the room. It is upstairs, I believe.” “Yes.” She had risen and was moving rapidly toward the door. Violet eagerly followed her. Let us accompany her in her passage up the palatial stairway, and realize the effect upon her of a splendour whose future ownership possibly depended entirely upon herself.