d more affectionate good-night
from her mother, had been wandering the halls in a search for her room.
There was nothing to note in this simple occurrence, and Mrs. Quimby
might have forgotten all about it if Miss Demarest had not made a
certain remark on leaving the room. The bareness and inhospitable aspect
of the place may have struck her, for she stopped in the doorway and,
looking back, exclaimed: "What ugly paper! Magenta, too, the one colour
my mother hates." This Mrs. Quimby remembered, for she also hated
magenta, and never went into this room if she could help it.

The business which kept them all up that night was one totally
disconnected with the Demarests or any one else in the house. A large
outstanding obligation was coming due which Quimby lacked the money to
meet. Something must be done with the stolen notes and jewelry which
they had accumulated in times past and had never found the will or
courage to dispose of. A choice must be made of what was salable. But
what choice? It was a question that opened the door to endless
controversy and possibly to a great difference of opinion; for in his
way Quimby was a miser of the worst type and cared less for what money
would do than for the sight and feeling of the money itself, while Mrs.
Quimby was even more tenacious in her passion for the trinkets and gems
which she looked upon as her part of the booty. Jake, on the contrary,
cared little for anything but the good of the couple to whom he had
attached himself. He wished Quimby to be satisfied, but not at Mrs.
Quimby's expense. He was really fond of the woman and he was resolved
that she should have no cause to grieve, even if he had to break with
the old man. Little did any of them foresee what the night really held
for them, or on what a jagged and unsuspected rock their frail bark was
about to split.

Shutting-up time came, and with it the usual midnight quiet. All the
doors had been locked and the curtains drawn over the windows and across
the glass doors of the office. They were determined to do what they had
never done before, lay out the loot and make a division. Quimby was
resolved to see the diamonds which his wife had kept hidden for so
long, and she, the securities, concerning the value of which he had
contradicted himself so often. Jake's presence would keep the peace;
they had no reason to fear any undue urging of his claims. All this he
knew, and he was not therefore surprised, only greatly exci