Amanda's eyes widened. "How did you know?"
Phillip nodded. "Come with me into the old library."
Amanda followed him out of the bedroom into a wide, musty hallway. They walked side by side to the end of the hall, where there were double doors. The original brass handles were now black with age and lay on the floor where they had fallen as the doors rotted away.
Phillip pushed the doors open and they went in. The old library walls were covered in shelves of rotting books. The odor of decay was heavy in the air. At one end of room sat a large, grandly carved oak desk. On the desk was a hand-carved wooden box, about the size of a modern briefcase. Only it clearly wasn't modern. The carvings depicted slaves harvesting tobacco leaves and a sailing vessel with its sails bulging from the wind.
