CHAPTER II.
Madame Fontaine dropped into a chair, overwhelmed by the discovery.
She looked at the key left in the cupboard.

It was of an old-fashioned pattern--but evidently also of the best workmanship of the time.

On its flat handle it bore engraved the words, "Pink-Room Cupboard"-- so called from the color of the curtains and hangings in the bedchamber.
"Is my brain softening ?" she said to herself.

"What a horrible mistake! What a frightful risk to have run!" She got on her feet again, and opened the cupboard.
The two lower shelves were occupied by her linen, neatly folded and laid out.

On the higher shelf, nearly on a level with her eyes, stood a plain wooden box about two feet in height by one foot in breadth.