`` Ah , that 's the last book poor Master read . I hid it away , but my lady found it in spite of me , '' said Hester , with a doleful sigh . `` Did he die suddenly , then ? '' asked the boy . `` Dear heart , yes ; I found him dying in this room with the ink scarce dry on the letter he left for my lady . A mysterious business and a sad one . '' `` Tell me about it . I like sad stories , and I already feel as if I belonged to the family , a loyal retainer as in the old times . While you dust the books and I rub the mold off this old cover , tell me the tale , please , Mrs. Hester . '' She shook her head , but yielded to the persuasive look and tone of the boy , telling the story more fully than she intended , for she loved talking and had come to regard Paul as her own , almost . `` And the letter ? What was in it ? '' asked the boy , as she paused at the catastrophe . `` No one ever knew but my lady . '' `` She destroyed it , then ? '' `` I thought so , till a long time afterward , one of the lawyers came pestering me with questions , and made me ask her . She was ill at the time , but answered with a look I shall never forget , ` No , it 's not burnt , but no one shall ever see it . ' I dared ask no more , but I fancy she has it safe somewhere and if it 's ever needed she 'll bring it out . It was only some private matters , I fancy . '' `` And the stranger ? ''
`` Oh , he vanished as oddly as he came , and has never been XXXXX .
's destroyed die forget found hid intended tell thought yielded