The Twin Detectives; or, The Robbers of the Tomb — page 90: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE TWIN DETECTIVES. 81 CHAPTER XVI. THE THEFT OF THE PAPERS. Mrs. Hall was in no very pleasant humor the morning after her arrival in New York. Her son told her of the engagement he had made with the McLeans, and invited her to join the party. | She bluntly refused. A fact which did not grieve him much. ‘‘How will you spend your day, then?” he asked, care- lessly. ** Tt does not matter to you,” she answered, coldly. ‘No, that is true. I would be glad to amuse you if I could, but as you decline to be entertained by me, I can only hope you will be able to amuse yourself.” So saying, he left her alone. Her face was very dark and forbidding when she returned to her own room. She locked the door, and drawing a chair to her trunk, she sat down, unlocked it, and took out the casket contain- ing the papers. ; A grim smile passed over her lips as she looked them over. ‘Tf he were worthy of it I would make an effort for him, in spite of my promise, but he is not. Vile and unnatural wretch! It would grieve me to see him anything but a dependent on my bounty and a beggar when I die.” The words were bitterly spoken. She was in no pleasant mood. | ‘‘ Here are the papers he would give so much to possess, for he thought of suppressing the one that kills his hopes,” she said. ‘‘ Yes, he would dare to produce these, and % comicbooks (¢(0)