rd and jewel-box.

"Mind, I shall be close at hand," I whispered after her; which she
acknowledged, before the door hid her from me, with one of her bright,
friendly smiles.

I then went and threw the front door wide open. Burke jumped as if I
had unexpectedly fired a shot at him.

"Come in," said I, dryly.

He stared unblinkingly at me for a moment, but during that moment he
recovered his equanimity, and became again his customary inscrutable
self. It would perhaps be too much to say that the color returned to
his face, for it was colorless at all times. However, I knew that for
once I had caught the man off his guard.

I surveyed him with derisive contempt.

"I didn't expect to find you here," he said at length.

"And all whom you did expect to find have gone," returned I. "But
that's no reason why we should stand holding the door open and filling
the house with cold. Come in."

"I don't understand you," said he, hesitating a second longer; "I was
looking for no one."

I glanced out for some sign of Stodger, but saw nothing of him. Then I
closed the door and placed my back against it.

"Perhaps no one in particular," I observed. "Neither did you
anticipate encountering such a forbiddingly empty house. Look here,
Burke, what _did_ you come back for?"

His eyes might have been actually sightless, his pallid features a
lifeless mask, for all the expression they conveyed; there was
absolutely no facial sign by which I could even determine whether I
commanded his attention; but his hands were never quiet, the slender,
nervous fingers twitched unceasingly.

Was his mind occupied by the crack in the library door? For an instant
I imagined that he detected Miss Cooper's presence, and my look
hardened with a sudden gust of anger; but he immediately answered my
question.

"I came for the papers I brought here last evening; they should be
returned to the file-case."

"Is Mr. Page wanting them?" I inquired ironically.

"It's not a joking matter, Mr. Swift; it would be decidedly awkward for
me to have them misplaced."

"Then I can set your mind at ease: I gave them to Mr. Ulysses
White"--naming Mr. Page's lawyer.

Burke elevated the blank expanse where his eyebrows should have been.

"Don't you think," said he, in a tone of hurt surprise, "that you might
properly have consulted me before making any disposition of them? I
feel, in a way, responsible for all the business affairs which Mr. Page
ordi