Ackworth and Clarice looked at one another dumfounded, and Dr. Jerce, with considerable amazement, looked at them. Finally, the eyes of all three rested on the object picked up by the girl. It outwardly appeared to be a snuffbox, and, with its surface of dull gold, wherein the amethystine fern was delicately set, looked an exquisite specimen of the jeweller's art. But to Jerce there seemed nothing about it to startle the young people. Yet Anthony appeared grave and Clarice even frightened. "One would think you had picked up a serpent," said Jerce, jestingly; "what is there about that snuffbox which frightens you?" "The Purple Fern!" she replied, pointing to the amethysts. As the doctor still seemed to be puzzled, Ackworth explained. "Do you not remember those murders of a year ago?" "Murders? Oh, er--yes. There was much in the papers about them, but I read the public journals very little. All my time is taken up with medical works. Just refresh my memory, will you, Ackworth? The dead bodies were stamped with a fern, weren't they?" "Yes--on the forehead. Seven people were stabbed to the heart. One in Kensington Gardens, one in the Strand, one in a house at Hampstead, and one--" "Yes! yes! I remember now," interrupted Jerce, impatiently, "but the murderer was caught and hanged, if I forget not." "_One_ murderer was caught," said Anthony, with emphasis, "but he had accomplices, whose names he refused to reveal." "Really. But there have been no more murders since." "No. For over a year they have ceased; but this," Ackworth pointed to the golden box, "and the warning received by Mr. Horran, look as though the accomplices who were not caught intend to begin another series of crimes." Jerce looked confounded. "What's that you say, about Horran having received a warning?" he asked. Before Ackworth could reply, Clarice drew the attention of the two men to the box, which she had opened. It was divided into two compartments, one of which was empty, while the other was filled with a silken pad, moistened with purple ink. "Look!" cried Miss Baird, aghast, as well she might be. "This is the very box which contained the stamp for impressing the purple fern on the forehead of the victims. Here is the pad, but the stamp has gone. Oh, Anthony, how did this come here? The letter, too, and--" "What letter?" asked Jerce, soothing her agitation, while Ackworth took over the box to examine it. "It's not exactly a letter," said Clarice, striving to appear calm, "only Uncle Henry found an envelope outside his window yesterday. It contained a sheet of paper stamped,--but Mr. Ackworth can show it to you." "Here it is," remarked Anthony, taking the envelope from his pocket, and passing it to the now grave doctor, "and now this box has been found, it seems to me that Mr. Horran is in danger of death."