words:--"_Elizabeth Leigh, from Kingscote Yelverton, Yelverton, June_, 1847." She stared at the legend--in which she recognised a peculiar capital K of his own invention that her father always used--with the utmost surprise, and with no idea of its tremendous significance. "Why--why!" she gasped, holding it up, "it belongs to _him_--it has Mr. Yelverton's name upon it! How in the world did it come here? What does it mean? Did he drop it here the other day? But, no, that is impossible--it was quite at the bottom--it must have been lying here for ages. Mr. Brion, _what_ does it mean?" The old man was already stooping over her, trying to take it from her hand. "Give it to me, my dear, give it to me," he cried eagerly. "Don't tear it--oh, for God's sake, be careful!--let me see what it is first." He took it from her, read the inscription over and over and over again, and then drew a chair to the table and sat down with the card before him, his face pale, and his hands shaking. The sisters gathered round him, bewildered; Elizabeth still possessed with her first impression that the little picture was her lover's property, Eleanor scarcely aware of what was going on, and Patty--always the quickest to reach the truth--already beginning dimly to discern the secret of their discovery. The carpenter and the housekeeper stood by, open-mouthed and open-eyed; and to them the lawyer tremulously addressed himself. "You had better go for a little while," he said; "we will put the mantelpiece up presently. Yet, stay--we have found a very important document, as I believe, and you are witnesses that we have done so. You had better examine it carefully before you go, that you may know it when you see it again." Whereupon he solemnly proceeded to print the said document upon their memories, and insisted that they should each take a copy of the words that made its chief importance, embodying it in a sort of affidavit, to which they signed their names. Then he sent them out of the room, and confronted the three sisters, in a state of great excitement. "I must see Paul," he said hurriedly. "I must have my son to help me. We must ransack that old bureau of yours--there must be more in it than we found that time when we looked for the will. Tell me, my dears, did your father let you have the run of the bureau, when he was alive?" No, they told him; Mr. King had been extremely particular in allowing no one to go to it but himself. "Ah," said the old man, "we must hunt it from top to bottom--we must break it into pieces, if necessary. I will telegraph to Paul. We must go to town at once, my dears, and investigate this matter--before Mr. Yelverton leaves the country." "He will not leave the country yet," said Elizabeth. "What is it, Mr. Brion?"