r first word and gradually, as
action followed action, withdrawn himself till he now stood alone and
in an attitude almost of defiance behind the large table in the centre
of the library.

"I am sorry," he began, with a brusqueness which gradually toned down
into a forced urbanity as he beheld every eye fixed upon him in
amazement, "that circumstances forbid my being of assistance to you in
this unfortunate matter. If the paper lies where you say, and I see no
other explanation of its loss, I am afraid it will have to remain there
for this night at least. The cement in which that door is embedded is
thick as any wall; it would take men with pickaxes, possibly with
dynamite, to make a breach there wide enough for anyone to reach in. And
we are far from any such help."

In the midst of the consternation caused by these words, the clock on
the mantel behind his back rang out the hour. It was but a double
stroke, but that meant two hours after midnight and had the effect of a
knell in the hearts of those most interested.

"But I am expected to give that formula into the hands of our manager
before six o'clock in the morning. The steamer sails at a quarter
after."

"Can't you reproduce a copy of it from memory?" someone asked; "and
insert it in its proper place among the pages you hold there?"

"The paper would not be the same. That would lead to questions and the
truth would come out. As the chief value of the process contained in
that formula lies in its secrecy, no explanation I could give would
relieve me from the suspicions which an acknowledgment of the existence
of a third copy, however well hidden, would entail. I should lose my
great opportunity."

Mr. Cornell's state of mind can be imagined. In an access of mingled
regret and despair, he cast a glance at Violet, who, with a nod of
understanding, left the little room in which they still stood, and
approached Mr. Van Broecklyn.

Lifting up her head,--for he was very tall,--and instinctively rising on
her toes the nearer to reach his ear, she asked in a cautious whisper:

"Is there no other way of reaching that place?"

She acknowledged afterwards, that for one moment her heart stood still
from fear, such a change took place in his face, though she says he did
not move a muscle. Then, just when she was expecting from him some harsh
or forbidding word, he wheeled abruptly away from her and crossing to a
window at his side, lifted the shade and looked out. Wh