with a rapid pace, and quickly passed beyond the reach of my eye.

This appearance was mysterious. For what end he should visit this
habitation could not be guessed. Was the contingency to be lamented in
consequence of which an interview had been avoided? Would it have
compelled me to explain the broken condition of his trunk? I knew not
whether to rejoice at having avoided this interview, or to deplore it.

These thoughts did not divert me from examining the nature of the prize
which I had gained. I relighted my candle and hied once more to the
chamber. The first object which, on entering it, attracted my attention,
was the cabinet broken into twenty fragments, on the hearth. I had left
it on a low table, at a distant corner of the room.

No conclusion could be formed but that Clithero had been here, had
discovered the violence which had been committed on his property, and,
in the first transport of his indignation, had shattered it to pieces. I
shuddered on reflecting how near I had been to being detected by him in
the very act, and by how small an interval I had escaped that resentment
which, in that case, would have probably been wreaked upon me.

My attention was withdrawn, at length, from this object, and fixed upon
the contents of the box which I had dug up. This was equally
inaccessible with the other. I had not the same motives for caution and
forbearance. I was somewhat desperate, as the consequences of my
indiscretion could not be aggravated, and my curiosity was more
impetuous with regard to the smaller than to the larger cabinet. I
placed it on the ground and crushed it to pieces with my heel.

Something was within. I brought it to the light, and, after loosing