terrify me?" she asked. "Verner's Pride is yours, Lionel.
The codicil must be found."

"The conviction upon my mind is that it never will be found," he
resolutely answered. "Whoever took that codicil from the desk where it
was placed, could have had but one motive in doing it--the depriving me
of Verner's Pride. Rely upon it, it is effectually removed ere this, by
burning, or otherwise. No. I already look upon the codicil as a thing
that never existed. Verner's Pride is gone from us."

"But, Lionel, whom do you suspect? Who can have taken it? It is pretty
nearly a hanging matter to steal a will!"

"I do not suspect any one," he emphatically answered. "Mrs. Tynn
protests that no one could have approached the desk unseen by her. It is
very unlikely that any one could have burnt it. They must, first of all,
have chosen a moment when my uncle was asleep; they must have got Mrs.
Tynn from the room; they must have searched for and found the keys; they
must have unlocked the desk, taken the codicil, relocked the desk, and
replaced the keys. All this could not be done without time, and
familiarity with facts. Not a servant in the house--save the Tynns--knew
the codicil was there, and they did not know its purport. But the Tynns
are thoroughly trustworthy."

"It must have been Mrs. Verner----"

"Hush, mother! I cannot listen to that, even from you. Mrs. Verner was
in her bed--never out of it; she knew nothing whatever of the codicil.
And, if she had, you will, I hope, do her the justice to believe that
she would be incapable of meddling with it."

"She benefits by its loss, at any rate," bitterly rejoined Lady Verner.

"Her son does. But that he does was entirely unknown to her. She never
knew that Mr. Verner had willed the estate away from me; she never
dreamed but that I, and no other, would be his successor. The accession
of Frederick Massingbird is unwelcome to her, rather than the contrary;
he has no right to it, and she feels that he has not. In the impulse of
the surprise, she said aloud that she wished it had been left to me; and
I am sure these were her true sentiments."

Lady Verner sat in silence, her white hands crossed on her black dress,
her head bent down. Presently she lifted it----

"I do not fully understand you, Lionel. You appear to imply
that--according to your belief--no one has touched the codicil. How,
then, can it have got out of the desk?"

"There is only one solution. It was suggested by Mr