"Why, what--what is the matter?"

She looked at him with wide open eyes, drawing in her under lip beneath
her white teeth, with the air of profound meditation. Then she freed
herself abruptly from his arms and went hastily to the table upon which
were her writing materials. She had been at work copying when her lover
came in, and her papers lay still open, with ink scarcely dry, where
she had stopped to welcome him. She took one sheet up and studied it
eagerly, and then turned toward him with shining eyes, her whole face
aglow.

"Oh, John!" she exclaimed.

He regarded her in puzzled silence. Then in an instant the glad light
faded from her eyes, and her lips lost their smile. An expression of
pain and almost of terror replaced the look of joy. There had suddenly
come to Melissa a sense of what she was doing. In the paper she held
was written the plan of the formation of a syndicate to purchase the
very range of meadows along the river in Feltonville of which those
mentioned by John formed a part. At Mrs. Fenton's direction, Melissa
had gone to see Mr. Hubbard, and had by him been employed to copy these
papers for use at a meeting of the proposed stockholders, which was to
take place in a few days.

"Mrs. Fenton tells me," he had said, "that you are to be trusted. It is
absolutely essential that you do not mention these plans to any living
being. Perfect secrecy is expected from you, and it is only because
Mrs. Fenton is your guarantee that I run the risk of putting them into
your hands."