Evidently the editor who was talking to Mr. Hamlin now lost his courage.  He did not dare to tell Mr. Hamlin that his own daughter was suspected of having sold her father’s papers.  Mr. Hamlin repeated the editor’s exact words.  “You say a young woman sold my papers?  You are right; this is not a matter to be discussed over the telephone.  Send some one up from your office to see me at once.”

Mr. Hamlin reeled over to his bell-rope and gave it a pull, so that the noise of its ringing sounded like an alarm through the quiet house.

A frightened servant answered the bell.

“Tell Miss Thurston and my niece, Miss Stuart, to come to my study at once,” Mr. Hamlin ordered.  The man-servant obeyed.

“Ruth, dear, wake up,” Bab entreated, giving her friend a shake.  “Something awful must have happened.  Your uncle has sent for us.  He must have missed those papers.”

[Illustration:  “What Have You Done With My Papers?”]

Ruth and Bab, both of them looking unutterably miserable and shaken, entered Mr. Hamlin’s study.  Their host did not speak as they first approached him.  When he did he turned on them such a haggard, wretched face that they were filled with pity.  But the instant Mr. Hamlin caught sight of Barbara his expression changed.  He took her by the arm, and, before she could guess what was going to happen, he shook her violently.

“What have you done with my state papers?” he demanded.  “Tell me quickly.  Don’t hesitate.  There may yet be time to save us both.  Oh, I should never have let you stay in this house!” he groaned.  “I suspected you of mischief when I learned of your first visit to my office.  But I did not believe such treachery could be found in a young girl.  Ruth, can’t you make your friend speak!  If she will tell me to whom she sold my papers, I will forgive her everything!  But I must know where they are at once.  I can then force the newspaper to keep silence and force my enemies to return me the documents, if there is only time!”

Barbara dropped into a chair and covered her face with her hands.  She did not utter a word of reproach to Mr. Hamlin for his cruel suspicion of her.  She could not tell him that his daughter Harriet was the real thief.

“Uncle,” Ruth entreated, laying a quiet hand on Mr. Hamlin’s arm, “listen to me for a moment.  Yes, you must listen!  You are not disgraced; you are not ruined.  Look in your desk.  Your papers are still there.  Only the old envelope is gone.  I put the papers in this drawer only this afternoon, because I did not know in what place you kept them.  Some papers were given away, a few hours ago, to two people, whom you believed to be your friends, to Mrs. Wilson and Peter Dillon.  But they were not your state papers, they were only blank sheets.”