Pressing this and the other spring simultaneously, the bookcase on the left of the fireplace suddenly swung open three or four inches.

For a moment she stood breathless with excitement, hesitating before she entered; then she swung the bookcase open.
There, as she had expected, was a little room seven feet long by four deep; but, to her bitter disappointment, it was bare and empty.

A few scraps of paper lay on the ground, but there was no furniture, chest, or boxes in the room.

The revulsion was so great that Mrs.Conway returned into the library, threw herself into a chair, and had a long cry.

Then she went back into the room and carefully examined the pieces of paper lying on the ground.