Presently Mrs.Colwood found herself helping to carry a small but heavy box of papers to the sitting-room which Diana had arranged for herself next to her bedroom.
Mrs.Colwood noticed that before Diana asked her assistance she dismissed her new maid, who had been till then actively engaged in the unpacking.

Miss Mallory herself unlocked the trunk in which the despatch-box had arrived, and took it out.

The box had an old green baize covering which was much frayed and worn.

Diana placed it on the floor of her bedroom, where Mrs.Colwood had been helping her in various unpackings, and went away for a minute to clear a space for it in the locked wall-cupboard to which it was to be consigned.

Her companion, left alone, happened to see that an old mended tear in the green baize had given way in Diana's handling of the box, and quite involuntarily her eyes caught a brass plate on the morocco lid, which bore the words, "Sparling papers." Diana came back at the moment, and perceived the uncovered label.