An old French secretary came into my possession, at the cost of ten dollars--the original owner could not have paid less than a hundred.

It was curiously inlaid with satin wood, and rich in quaint carvings.

There seemed to be no end to the discoveries I was continually making among its intricate series of drawers, pigeon holes, slides, and hidden receptacles.

But some one had preceded me in the examination, and had removed all the papers and documents it contained.

It flashed across my mind, as I explored the mazes of this old piece of furniture, that it might contain, in some secret drawer, another will.