"
"There! That will do," she said, leaning back in her chair, and
laughing as she thought what her mother and Alice would say, if
they knew what she had done. "But they needn't know it," she
continued aloud, "until the money comes, and then they can't help
themselves."
Then it occurred to her that if Dora herself were to send some
message, the coming of the money might be surer; and calling her
cousin into the room, she said:
"I am about writing to old Uncle Nat--have you any word or
anything to send him?"
"Oh, yes," answered Dora. "Give him my love, and tell him how much
I wish he would come home--and stay!" she added, leaving the
room, and soon returning with a lock of soft brown hair, which she
laid upon the table. "Give him that, and tell him it was
mother's."
Had a serpent started suddenly into life before Eugenia, she could
not have turned whiter than she did at the sight of that hair. It
brought vividly to mind the shadowy twilight, the darkness in the
corners, and the terror which came over her on that memorable
night, when she had thought to steal Dora's treasure.
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