At length she entered the apartment where her father usually studied or wrote, and, after a good deal of hesitation, in which her face and gestures displayed the anxiety of her purpose, opened the table-drawer, and saw in it, unrolled, a written document.

The paleness of death overspread her countenance as she perused the paper and instantly closed the drawer.

After this she left the apartment hastily, and, returning to her chamber, sat down with hands clasped on her knees and eyes fixed on the floor in a stare of wild surprise.
"_Sell Grinselhof!_" exclaimed she.

"Sell Grinselhof! Why?
Monsieur Denecker insulted my father because we were not rich enough for him.
What is this secret?
and what does it all mean?
If it should be _true_ that we are beggars! Oh, God! does a ray of light penetrate my mind?
is this the solution of the enigma and the cause of my father's depression ?" For a long time she remained motionless in her chair, absorbed in reverie; but gradually her face brightened, her lips moved, and her eyes glistened with resolution.

As she was endeavoring to fight bravely against misfortune, she suddenly heard the wheels of her father's _caleche_ returning to Grinselhof.