ir.
The daughter screamed, and hastened to support the languid parent, who
difficultly articulated, "Oh, I am sick; sick to death. Put me on the
bed."

I was astonished and affrighted at this scene. Some of the domestics, of
both colours, entered, and gazed at me with surprise. Involuntarily I
withdrew, and returned to the room below, into which I had first
entered, and which I now found deserted.

I was for some time at a loss to guess at the cause of these
appearances. At length it occurred to me, that joy was the source of the
sickness that had seized Mrs. Maurice. The abrupt recovery of what had
probably been deemed irretrievable would naturally produce this effect
upon a mind of a certain texture.

I was deliberating whether to stay or go, when the daughter entered the
room, and, after expressing some surprise at seeing me, whom she
supposed to have retired, told me that her mother wished to see me again
before my departure. In this request there was no kindness. All was
cold, supercilious, and sullen. I obeyed the summons without speaking.

I found Mrs. Maurice seated in her arm-chair, much in her former guise.
Without desiring me to be seated, or relaxing aught in her asperity of
looks and tones,--"Pray, friend, how did you _come by_ these papers?"

"I assure you, madam, they were honestly _come by_," answered I,
sedately and with half a smile; "but, if the whole is there that was
missing, the mode and time in which they came to me is matter of
concern only to myself. Is there any deficiency?"

"I am not sure. I don't know much of these matters. There may be less. I
dare say there is. I shall know that soon. I expect a friend of mine
every minute who will look them over. I don't doubt you can give a good
account of yourself."

"I doubt not but I can--to those who have a right to demand it. In this
case, curiosity must be very urgent indeed before I shall consent to
gratify it."

"You must know this is a suspicious case. Watson, to-be-sure, embezzled
the money; to-be-sure, you are his accomplice."

"Certainly," said I, "my conduct, on this occasion, proves that. What I
have brought to you, of my own accord; what I have restored to you,
fully and unconditionally, it is plain Watson embezzled, and that I was
aiding in the fraud. To restore what was never stolen always betrays the
thief. To give what might be kept without suspicion is, without doubt,
arrant knavery. To be serious, madam, in coming thus far