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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 Excerpt: ...reside." "Writing letters, ma'am, is no great harm. I don't want to make it so; but when you get one of those letters in your hands--I am not going to say how--and find out that it has half a bank-note in it--I don't say it was your note, but it might be" Miss Ponsonby, startled at this surprising intelligence, leaned forward with the keenest interest. She was about to violently pull the bell for Mercy, when the.superintendent stopped her. "We must move very quietly in this affair. There must be no alarm given, or we shall lose our bird, and spoil all. You leave it to me, ma'am, and I'll bring it out right." "But I must--I will--I'll not have thieves". Miss Ponsonby hardly knew what to say or do. A vague terror and distrust surrounded her, yet she still felt a certain reliance in this man, who seemed to see clearly through the darkness. "You have lost nothing since that first note?" said the superintendent, making an entry in a small note-book. "Nothing. 1 have five ten-pound notes now lying here on my desk that Merry, my maid, brought me this morning from the bank. I left them in here with that door open that you see there between this room and my bedroom. No one could enter here without my hearing them. The notes arc here untouched." "You counted them when they arrived? I suppose you can trust your servant?" "Perfectly. I have always found her entirely trustworthy. I would trust her with money untold. I not only counted the notes when they arrived, but I took their numbers." "I'll take down the numbers, too, please." said the superintendent. Miss Ponsonby read the numbers from a memorandum. "But I'll just compare them," she said, "with the notes, to be sure...