SUSPICIONS
Dotty turned on Fenn like a little fury. "What do you mean?" she cried.
"Are you accusing Dolly of stealing that thing?"
"There, there," said Mr. Forbes, placatingly, "Of course, Fenn didn't
mean that. Not intentionally, that is. But without thinking, couldn't--"
"No, she couldn't!" stormed Dotty. "Dolly Fayre doesn't go around
pocketing people's jewels unconsciously! She isn't a kleptomaniac, or
whatever you call it! She did exactly as she says she did. She laid
that earring on that table."
"Then why isn't it there now?" asked Fenn.
"Because somebody else moved it. Oh, don't ask me who. I don't KNOW
who! And I don't CARE who! But Dolly put it there, and whoever took it
away from there can find it! Perhaps YOU, can, Mr. Fenn!"
The secretary looked at the angry girl with an irritating smile.
"I wish I might, Miss Rose. But I've searched the room thoroughly, as
you all have, too. It can't be HERE, you know."
"I'll tell you," said Alicia, eagerly, and then she described how in
her home a photograph had slipped down behind the mantel and had been
lost for years.
"Let us see," and Mr. Forbes went to the mantel in the room. But there
was not the least mite of a crack between the shelf and the wall.
Alicia's suggestion was useless.
"But," she said, "there might be that sort of a hiding-place somewhere
else. Let's look all over."
The girls tried hard to find some crack or crevice in any piece of
furniture, into which the trinket might have slipped, but there was
none. They felt down between backs and seats of chairs, looked behind
cases of treasures, moved every book and paper that lay on the tables,
even turned up the edges of rugs, and peeped under.
"It doesn't make any difference how much we look," Dotty declared,
"we've just got to look more,--that's all. Why, that earring is in this
room, and that's all there is about that! Now, it's up to us to find
it. You know, after you search all the possible places, you have to
search the impossible ones."
"I admire your perseverance," said Mr. Forbes, "but I can't hope it
will be rewarded. It isn't as if we were hunting for a thing that
somebody had purposely concealed, that would mean an exhaustive search.
But we're looking for something merely mislaid or tossed aside, and if
we find it, it will be in some exposed place, not cleverly hidden."
"Oh, I don't know, Uncle Jeff," said Bernice, "you know when Alicia's
photograph slipped behind the mantel, that was deeply hidden, although
not purposely."
"Yes, that's so," and Uncle Jeff looked questioningly from one girl to
another.
It was impossible to ignore the fact that he deemed one of them
responsible for the disappearance of the jewel, and until the matter
was cleared up, all felt under suspicion. Fenn, too, was studying the
four young faces, as if to detect signs of guilt in one of them.
At last he said, "Let us get at this systematically. Who took the
earring first, when Mr. Forbes handed it out from the case?"
"I did," said Dotty, promptly. "I stood nearest to Mr. Forbes and he
handed it to me. After I looked at it, I passed it to Alicia."
"No, you didn't," contradicted Alicia. "I didn't touch it."
"Why, yes, 'Licia," Dotty persisted, "you took it and said--"
"I tell you I didn't! I never handled the things at all! It was
Bernice."
"I did have it in my hands," said Bernice, reflectively, "but I can't
remember whether I took it from Dot or Alicia."
"I didn't touch it, I tell you!" and Alicia frowned angrily.
"Oh, yes, you did," said Dolly, "it was you, Alicia, who passed it on
to me. And I took it--"
"You didn't take it from me, Dolly," and Alicia grew red with passion.
"I vow I never touched it! You took it from Bernice."
"No," said Dolly, trying to think. "I took it from you, and I held it
up and asked you how it looked."
"No, Doll, you asked me that," said Bernice, "and I said it was very
becoming."
"You girls seem decidedly mixed as to what you did," said Mr. Fenn,
with a slight laugh. "I think you're not trying to remember very
clearly."
"Hold on, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes, reprovingly. "It's in the girls'
favour that they don't remember clearly. If they tossed the thing aside
carelessly, they naturally wouldn't remember."
"But, Mr. Forbes," and the secretary spoke earnestly, "would these
young ladies toss a valuable gem away carelessly? They are not ignorant
children. They all knew that the earring is a choice possession. I'm
sure not one of them would toss it aside, unheeding where it might
fall!"
This was perfectly true. None of the four girls could have been so
heedless as that! They had carefully handled every gem or curio shown
them, and then returned it to Mr. Forbes as a matter of course.
Fenn's speech was rather a facer. All had to admit its truth, and the
four girls looked from one to another and then at Mr. Forbes. He was
studying them intently.
Bernice and Dolly were crying. Alicia and Dotty were dry-eyed and
angry-faced. If one of the four had a secret sense of guilt, it was
difficult to guess which one it might be, for all were in a state of
excitement and were well-nigh hysterical.
"Much as I regret it," Mr. Forbes began, "I am forced to the conclusion
that one or more of you girls knows something of the present
whereabouts of my lost jewel. I do not say I suspect any of you of
wilful wrong-doing, it might be you had accidentally carried it off,
and now feel embarrassed about returning it. I can't--I won't believe,
that any of you deliberately took it with intent to keep it."
"We thank you for that, Mr. Forbes," and Dotty's tone and the
expression of her face denoted deepest sarcasm. "It is a comfort to
know that you do not call us thieves! But, for my part, I think it is
about as bad to accuse us of concealing knowledge of the matter. I
think you'd better search our trunks and suitcases! And then, if you
please, I should like to go home--"
"No doubt you would, Miss Rose!" broke in Fenn's cold voice. "A search
of your belongings would be useless. If one of you is concealing the
jewel, it would not be found in any available place of search. You
would have put it some place in the house, not easy of discovery. That
would not be difficult."
"Be quiet, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes. "Girls, I'm not prepared to say I
think one of you has hidden the jewel, but I do think that some of you
must know something about it. How can I think otherwise? Now, tell me
if it is so. I will not scold,--I will not even blame you, if you have
been tempted, or if having accidentally carried it off, you are ashamed
to own up. I'm not a harsh man. I only want the truth. You can't be
surprised at my conviction that you DO know something of it. Why,
here's the case in a nutshell. I handed that earring to you, and I
never received it back. What can I think but that you have it yet? It
is valuable, to be sure, but the money worth of it is as nothing to the
awfulness of the feeling that we have an untrustworthy person among us.
Can it be either of my two nieces who has done this wrong? Can it be
either of their two young friends? I don't want to think so, but what
alternative have I? And I MUST know! For reasons which I do not care to
tell you, it is imperative that I shall discover who is at fault. I
could let the whole matter drop, but there is a very strong cause why I
should not do so. I beg of you, my dear nieces,--my dear young
friends,--I beseech you, tell me the truth, won't you?"
Mr. Forbes spoke persuasively, and kindly.
Alicia burst into a storm of tears and sobbed wildly. Bernice, her face
hidden in her handkerchief, was crying too.
Dotty sat stiffly erect in her chair, her little hands clenched, her
big, black eyes staring at Mr. Forbes in a very concentration of wrath.
Dolly was limp and exhausted from weeping.
With quivering lips and in a shaking voice, she said:
"Maybe one of us is a kleptomaniac, then, after all."
"Ah, a confession!" said Mr. Fenn, with his cynical little smile. "Go
on, Miss Fayre. Which one has the accumulating tendency?"
"You do make me so mad!" exclaimed Dotty, glaring at him. "Uncle
Forbes, can't we talk with you alone?"
"Oh, no, little miss," said Fenn, "Mr. Forbes is far too easy-going to
look after this affair by himself! He'd swallow all the stories you
girls would tell him! I'll remain, if you please. Unless you have
something to conceal, you can't object to my presence at this
interesting confab."
Dolly came to Dotty's aid. She looked at the secretary with a glance of
supreme contempt.
"It is of no consequence, Mr. Fenn," she said, haughtily, "whether you
are present or not. Uncle Forbes, I agree with Dotty. You said
yourself, you have an acquaintance who can't help taking treasures that
are not his own. It may be that one of us has done this. But, even so,
the jewel must be in the house. None of us has been out of the house
since we were in this room yesterday afternoon. So, if it is in the
house, it must be found."
"Ha! You HAVE hidden it securely, to be willing to have a thorough
search of the house made!" and Fenn looked unpleasantly at her. "Own
up, Miss Fayre; it will save a lot of trouble for the rest of us."
Dolly tried to look at the man with scorn, but her nerves gave way, and
again she broke down and cried softly, but with great, convulsive sobs.
Dotty was furious but she said nothing to Fenn for she knew she would
only get the worst of it.
"Come now, Dolly," said Mr. Forbes, in a gentle way, "stop crying, my
dear, and let's talk this over. Where did you lay the earring when you
took it from your dress?"
"On--on--the t-table," stammered Dolly, trying to stop crying. But, as
every one knows, it is not an easy thing to stem a flood of tears, and
Dolly couldn't speak clearly.
"Yes; what table?"
"This one," and Dotty spoke for her, and indicated the table by the
south window.
"Where,--on the table?" persisted Uncle Jeff.
Dolly got up and walked over to the light stand in question.
"About here, I think," and she indicated a spot on the surface of the
dull finished wood.
"Why didn't you hand it back to me?" queried Mr. Forbes, in a kind tone.
"I d-don't know, sir," Dolly sobbed again. "I'm sure I don't know why I
didn't."
"I know," put in Dotty. "Because just then, Mr. Forbes showed us a
bracelet that had belonged to Cleopatra, and we all crowded round to
look at that, and Doll laid down the earring to take up the bracelet.
We didn't suppose we were going to be accused of stealing!"
"Tut, tut," said Mr. Forbes. "Nobody has used that word! I don't accuse
you of anything,--except carelessness."
"But when it comes to valuable antiques," interrupted Fenn, "it is what
is called criminal carelessness."
"It WAS careless of Dolly to lay the earring down," said Mr. Forbes,
"but that is not the real point. After she laid it down, just where she
showed us, on that small table, somebody must have picked it up. Her
carelessness in laying it there might have resulted in its being
brushed off on the floor, but not in its utter disappearance."
"Maybe it fell out of the window," suggested Bernice, suddenly, "that
window was open then, you know."
Mr. Forbes waited over to the table. "No," he said, "this stand is
fully a foot from the window sill. It couldn't have been unknowingly
brushed as far as that."
"Of course, it couldn't," said Fenn, impatiently. "You're making no
progress at all, Mr. Forbes."
"Propose some plan, yourself, then," said Dotty, shortly; "you're so
smart, suppose you point your finger to the thief!"
"I hope to do so, Miss Rose," and Fenn smirked in a most aggravating
way. "But I hesitate to accuse anyone before I am quite sure."
"A wise hesitation!" retorted Dotty. "Stick to that, Mr. Fenn!"
She turned her back on him, and putting her arm round Dolly, sat in
silent sympathy.
Suddenly Bernice spoke. She was not crying now, on the contrary, she
was composed and quiet.
"Uncle Jeff," she said, "this is a horrid thing that has happened. I
feel awfully sorry about it all, but especially because it is making so
much trouble for Dolly and Dotty, the two friends that I brought here.
Alicia and I belong here, in a way, but the others are our guests, as
well as your guests. It is up to us, to free them from all suspicion in
this thing and that can only be done by finding the earring. I don't
believe for one minute that any one of us four girls had a hand,
knowingly, in its disappearance, but if one of us did, she must be
shown up. I believe in fairness all round, and while I'm sure the jewel
slipped into some place, or under or behind something, yet if it
DIDN'T,--if somebody did,--well,--steal it! we must find out who. I
wouldn't be willing, even if you were, Uncle, to let the matter drop. I
want to know the solution of the mystery, and I'm going to find it!"
"Bravo! Bernie, girl," cried her uncle, "that's the talk! As I told you
I must know the truth of this thing,--never mind why, I MUST find it
out. But how?"
"First," said Bernice, speaking very decidedly, but not looking toward
the other girls, "I think all our things ought to be searched."
"Oh, pshaw, Bernie," said Alicia, "that would be silly! You know if any
of us wanted to hide that earring we wouldn't put it in among our
clothes."
"Why not?" demanded Bernice. "I can't imagine any of us having it, but
if we have, it's by accident. Why, it might have caught in any of our
dresses or sashes, and be tucked away there yet."
"That's so," and Dotty looked hopeful. "It could be, that as one of us
passed by the table, it got caught in our clothing. Anyway, we'll all
look."
"But don't look in your own boxes," objected Fenn. "Every girl must
search another's belongings."
"I wonder you'd trust us to do THAT!" snapped Dotty, and Fenn
immediately replied:
"You're right! It wouldn't be safe! I propose that Mrs. Berry search
all your rooms."
"Look here, Fenn, you are unduly suspicious," Mr. Forbes remonstrated,
mildly.
"But, sir, do you want to get back your gem, or not? You asked for my
advice and help in this matter, now I must beg to be allowed to carry
out my plans of procedure."
It was plain to be seen that Mr. Forbes was under the thumb of his
secretary. And this was true. Lewis Fenn had held his position for a
long time, and his services were invaluable to Jefferson Forbes. It was
necessary that the collector should have a reliable, responsible and
capable man to attend to the duties he required of a secretary, and
these attributes Fenn fully possessed. But he was of a small,
suspicious nature, and having decided on what course to pursue
regarding the lost curio, he was not to be swerved from his path.
"Well, well, we will see," Mr. Forbes said, an anxious look wrinkling
his forehead as he looked at the girls. "Run away now, it's nearly
luncheon time. Don't worry over the thing. Each one of you knows her
own heart. If you are innocent, you've no call to worry. If you are
implicated, even in a small degree in the loss of my property, come to
me and tell me so. See me alone, if you like. I will hear your
confession, and if it seems wise, I will keep it confidential. I can't
promise this, for as I hinted, I have a very strong reason for probing
this affair to the very core. It is a mystery that MUST be cleared up!"