After that I shall go away." The troubled frown on Virginia's face grew deeper.
"My dear Stella," she said, "although nothing would please me better than to see your father and you friends again, you must know that he allows no one to enter these rooms when his secretary is away.

In fact, as you know, the door was closed, and if you had not known the secret of the catch, you could not have entered." "Well," Stella repeated carelessly, "since I am here, I am here.

Please unlock this desk and give me some writing paper." "I cannot unlock it," Virginia answered.

"You must know that." "But you have the keys," Stella interposed.
"If I have," Virginia declared, "it is because your father trusted me with them." "Perhaps," Stella said, leaning a little forward in her chair, "you have also the keys of that wonderful little hiding place of his that he showed me one day." "Perhaps I have," Virginia answered, "but if so, no other person in the world will ever know about it." "You won't even open the desk for me, then ?" Stella said.
"Certainly not," Virginia answered.

"Your father's orders to me were quite explicit." "You do not suppose," Stella asked, "that he meant to exclude his own daughter ?" "How can I tell ?" Virginia answered.