"Yes, marm." "Is Lucy still outdoors?" "Yes." Ellen waited an instant; then she said: "There's somethin' in her room I want you should get for me." "All right, Miss Webster." "It's a long white envelope. You'll find it somewheres. It'll likely be in her desk or the table drawer. It's sealed with red wax. You'll know it when you come across it." Although Melvina nodded, she did not move. "You needn't be afraid to fetch it," explained Ellen querulously. "It's mine. I gave it to Lucy to keep for me." "I see." Melvina started promptly on her quest. "Don't be all night about it," was Ellen's parting admonition. While the messenger was gone, the invalid gave vent to her impatience by drumming rhythmically on the wooden edge of the bedstead, and this measured tattoo increased in speed until it beat time with the feverish bounding of her pulse and the throbbing of her heart. "Ain't you found it yet?" she shouted at last. "Yes, I've just come on it. It was under----" "No matter where it was. Bring it here." "I'm comin'." Bearing the envelope, Melvina appeared in the doorway. "Let me see it," said Ellen. She took it in her hand and, while Melvina held the candle, examined the package critically. "Humph!" she muttered. "It's good as new." For some unaccountable reason she seemed disappointed at the discovery. "Now run downstairs and put it in the stove," she commanded excitedly. "Wait till every smitch of it's burned up an' then come back." "Yes, marm." But again Melvina loitered. "I tell you the thing is mine to do with as I please," declared Ellen angrily. "Yes, marm." "Ain't you going?" "Y-e-s." As she heard the nurse's reluctant step on the stairs, an evil light came into the old woman's face. "I'll fix that!" she whispered aloud. It took Melvina some time to fulfill her errand, but at length she returned, and the moment she was inside the door Ellen's shrill query greeted her: "Well, did you burn it?" "Yes, marm." "Every scrap of it?" "Yes." "You didn't leave nothin'?" "No." The woman in the bed drew a satisfied breath. "That's all right then. Now get me a drink of water, an' I'll go to sleep." The sleep she craved, however, did not come, for throughout the night she continued to move unceasingly. "Your aunt didn't so much as close her eyes," announced Melvina to Lucy the next morning, while the two sat at breakfast. Nevertheless, although she advanced this information, with characteristic secretiveness she said nothing of the happenings of the previous evening. Truly if "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles," Melvina's eternal serenity of spirit was assured. CHAPTER XIV A PIECE OF DIPLOMACY