Great interest was excited; and it appeared to be altogether so mysterious an affair that one and all flocked upstairs to the room; the room where he had died! whence the coffin had but just been borne.

Mrs.Tynn was summoned; and when she found what was amiss, she grew excited; fearing, possibly, that the blame might in some way fall upon her.

Saving Lionel himself, she was the only one who had been alone with Mr.Verner; of course, the only one who could have had an opportunity of tampering with the desk.

And that, only when the patient slept.
"I protest that the desk was never touched, after I returned it to the closet by my master's desire, when the parchment was put into it!" she cried.

"My master never asked for his desk again, and I never so much as opened the closet.