For almost at first blush, I saw that whether Mrs.Daniels was correct or not in her surmises as to the manner of the girl's disappearance, the fact that she had disappeared was likely to prove an affair of some importance.

For, let me state the facts in the order in which I noticed them.

The first thing that impressed me was, that whatever Mrs.Daniels called her, this was no sewing girl's room into which I now stepped.

Plain as was the furniture in comparison with the elaborate richness of the walls and ceiling, there were still scattered through the room, which was large even for a thirty foot house, articles of sufficient elegance to make the supposition that it was the abode of an ordinary seamstress open to suspicion, if no more.
Mrs.Daniels, seeing my look of surprise, hastened to provide some explanation.

"It is the room which has always been devoted to sewing," said she; "and when Emily came, I thought it would be easier to put up a bed here than to send her upstairs.