ere was a
shelf by the fire-place which he had not noticed before. Something lay
on it; it was a small desk. Perhaps it belonged to his sister, and
might throw some light on his difficulties. He took it down and placed
it on the table. The key was in the lock. He opened it, and his eye
fell at once on an envelope directed, "Amos Huntingdon, Esquire," but
not in his sister's hand. Having undone the envelope, he drew out its
contents. These consisted of a note and a blank cheque. The note was
as follows:--

"Dear Brother-in-Law,--You have money, and I have none. I want money
very much, and you can spare it. I enclose a blank cheque, which I have
managed to procure from your bankers. Please fill it up for a hundred
pounds. I am sorry to trouble you, but `necessity has no law,' as the
old proverb says. I shall call to-night at the window for the cheque.
You will find pen and ink in the desk. Pardon my little bit of
eccentricity in bringing you here. When I have got the cheque you will
soon be at liberty again, and none the worse, I trust, for your short
captivity. I don't wish to proceed to extremities with a relation, but
the money I _must_ have. Only let me get the cheque, and then, as the
poet says, `My native land, good-night;' I shall trouble you and yours
no more.--Your affectionate brother-in-law, Vivian."

The cool audacity of this letter was perfectly staggering to Amos. And
yet there was no mistaking the writer's meaning and intentions. It was
plain that the reckless adventurer was resolved to extort money from his
wife's brother, whom he had succeeded in entrapping, and that
remonstrance would be of very little avail with such a character. That
the wretched man would do him serious bodily injury Amos did not think
probable, but that he would use any pressure short of this seemed
tolerably certain. On thinking it over, the young man came to the
conviction that his unhappy relation, being hard up for money, and
intending probably to go abroad with the help of this hundred pounds,
had compelled his sister to write the latter part of her letter, and had
then employed some unprincipled female associate to act as his
confederate. No doubt he had calculated that it might be a day or two
before Amos's friends would become alarmed at his absence, and probably
a day or two more before they discovered his prison, especially as the
snow would make it more difficult to trace him. In the meantime he
tr