tape that had secured the bundles.

Dalhousie perceived that the labyrinth he was engaged in exploring had
not been the labor of the former owner of Bellevue, and he was perplexed
to understand why Jaspar had taken such apparent pains to disarrange
them. But Jaspar did have a motive; he had produced the disorder in his
careless search for any paper which might be evidence against him. So
heedlessly, however, had he ransacked the drawers, that, if any such
were there, they must have escaped his notice. He was too much excited
to do the work with the attention his own safety demanded.

Dalhousie continued to examine the papers, and Jaspar still trembled
lest something might turn up which would give the overseer a
confirmation of the opinions he had expressed at Vicksburg. Still Jaspar
had not the courage to undertake the task himself. He allowed the
overseer to perform it, in the very face of the danger he wished to
escape.

The overseer seemed to Jaspar's troubled vision perfectly indifferent.
He could discover no anxiety in his features, to indicate that he had
any other purpose than to do his employer's bidding. A more close
inspection would have developed a slight twinkle, as of anticipation, in
the marble face of Dalhousie.

As he turned paper after paper, his eye rested upon a packet enclosed
in a blank envelope. His curiosity was aroused, and, glancing
indifferently at Jaspar, he saw that his piercing eye regarded him with
intense scrutiny. Continuing his labor without disturbing the mysterious
packet, he waited until the sharp eye of his companion was removed from
him.

On the table by the side of Jaspar was a bottle of brandy, at which, at
short intervals, the miserable man paid his devoir. Dalhousie did not,
therefore, have to wait long before the keen watcher left his chair,
and, with his back to him, took a long draught of the exciting beverage.
The overseer, seizing the favorable opportunity, slipped the packet into
his pocket. As indifferently as before, he completed the task, and
Jaspar was relieved when he saw the papers again filed away.

Dalhousie sought his room, and, scarcely heeding the salutation of his
wife, he seated himself, and drew forth the packet. Removing the blank
envelope, he found it was a letter, directed to "Emily Dumont," with a
request to Mr. Faxon that it might be delivered to her after the
writer's decease. This seemed to imply that the writer had intended the
clergyman as th