The papers were there upon her knee, but her
fingers seemed wound around them with some unnatural force. Her burning
eyes were fixed upon her uncle's.
"Take them!" she begged. "Read them! Tell me that it is all right. Tell
me that you will keep your promise."
He took them gently away. A single glance at the sheet of foolscap was
enough.
"You are a wonderful child, Virginia," he said calmly. "It is as you
say. These are the papers which Stella stole. I blamed you for the loss
of them too hardly, but you shall never be sorry that you succeeded in
regaining them."
She drew a queer little breath of relief, and leaned back in her chair.
She was still as pale as death, but the terrible strain had gone
from her face.
"I snatched them up," she murmured, "and ran. I am sure they will come
after me. And Vine--I think that that man will kill Vine. His fingers
were upon his throat when I left."
"You brought them," Phineas Duge asked calmly, "from Norris Vine's
rooms?"
She had no time to answer. The door was opened. Norris Vine stood there
on the threshold. He looked in upon the little group and shrugged his
shoulders.
"I am too late, then," he said slowly.
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