her, and when she came to reason it out
calmly, the more impossible seemed their union from every point of
view. How could she become the daughter-in-law of the man who had
ruined her own father? The idea was preposterous, and hard as the
sacrifice would be, Jefferson must be made to see it in that
light. Their engagement was the greatest folly; it bound each of
them when nothing but unhappiness could possibly come of it. She
was sure now that she loved Jefferson. It would be hard to give
him up, but there are times and circumstances when duty and
principle must prevail over all other considerations, and this she
felt was one of them.

The following morning she received a letter from Stott. He was
delighted to hear the good news regarding her important discovery,
and he urged her to lose no time in securing the letters and
forwarding them to Massapequa, when he would immediately go to
Washington and lay them before the Senate. Documentary evidence of
that conclusive nature, he went on to say, would prove of the very
highest value in clearing her father's name. He added that the
judge and her mother were as well as circumstances would permit,
and that they were not in the least worried about her protracted
absence. Her Aunt Milly had already returned to Europe, and
Eudoxia was still threatening to leave daily.

Shirley needed no urging. She quite realized the importance of
acting quickly, but it was not easy to get at the letters. The
library was usually kept locked when the great man was away, and
on the few occasions when access to it was possible, the lynx-eyed
Mr. Bagley was always on guard. Short as had been her stay in the
Ryder household, Shirley already shared Jefferson's antipathy to
the English secretary, whose manner grew more supercilious and
overbearing as he drew nearer the date when he expected to run off
with one of the richest catches of the season. He had not sought
the acquaintance of his employer's biographer since her arrival,
and, with the exception of a rude stare, had not deigned to notice
her, which attitude of haughty indifference was all the more
remarkable in view of the fact that the Hon. Fitzroy usually left
nothing unturned to cultivate a flirtatious intimacy with every
attractive female he met. The truth was that what with Mr. Ryder's
demands upon his services and his own preparations for his coming
matrimonial venture, in which he had so much at stake, he had
neither time nor inclina