"You have got the paper you seek?" he said.

"Yes."

"Then whatever you do, you must be quick; he will soon discover the
loss."

"I will be quick."

"It is I whom he will suspect," said Gabriel, in alarm, as that thought
struck him. "No, for my sake do not take the letter till I am gone. Do
not fear in the mean time; he will do nothing against you while I am
here."

"I will replace the letter till then," said Lucretia, meekly. "You have
a right to my first thoughts." So she went back, and Gabriel (suspicious
perhaps) crept after her.

As she replaced the document, he pointed to the manuscript which had
tempted her. "I have seen that before; how I longed for it! If anything
ever happens to him, I claim that as my legacy."

Their hands met as he said this, and grasped each other convulsively;
Lucretia relocked the secretary, and when she gained the next room, she
tottered to a chair. Her strong nerves gave way for the moment; she
uttered no cry, but by the whiteness of her face, Gabriel saw that she
was senseless,--senseless for a minute or so; scarcely more. But the
return to consciousness with a clenched hand, and a brow of defiance, and
a stare of mingled desperation and dismay, seemed rather the awaking from