I mended the fire before I renewed my search.

My nerves were in fault again, I suppose.

I shivered when I went back to the book-case.
My hands trembled: I wondered what was the matter with me.
The second cupboard revealed (in the upper division of it) some really beautiful cameos--not mounted, but laid on cotton-wool in neat cardboard trays.

In one corner, half hidden under one of the trays, there peeped out the whit e leaves of a little manuscript.

I pounced on it eagerly, only to meet with a new disappointment: the manuscript proved to be a descriptive catalogue of the cameos--nothing more! Turning to the lower division of the cupboard, I found more costly curiosities in the shape of ivory carvings from Japan and specimens of rare silk from China.