It was then that the incident of the "inexplicable gallery" occurred.
The third time she had determined to keep the appointment.

He asked for it in the letter he had written in her own room, on the night of the incident in the gallery, which he left on her desk.

In that letter he threatened to burn her father's papers if she did not meet him.

It was to rescue these papers that she made up her mind to see him.

She did not for one moment doubt that the wretch would carry out his threat if she persisted in avoiding him, and in that case the labours of her father's lifetime would be for ever lost.