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. She flushed a little, hesitated, and then said, looking
first at the label and then at Mrs. Colwood: "I think I should like you
to know--my name was not always Mallory.
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