CHAPTER III THE MISSING PURSE
"What queer things that man said about himself," remarked Belle, as shesettled back in her seat.
"I was wild to have him go on," replied her sister. "I'm sure he's got aromance or a mystery of some kind in his life."
"Did you see how suddenly he checked himself when he started to talkabout that girl?" asked Cora.
"Perhaps it was some girl whom he intended to marry," said Bess, who hada strong vein of sentiment in her composition.
"Well, we'll never get a chance to know," observed Belle. "We've probablyseen Mr. Samuel Morley for the first and last time."
"I don't know about that," rejoined Cora. "I have a sort of feeling thatwe'll run across him again."
"Listen to the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter," mocked Belle.
"Sybilla, the reader of the mystic sphere, the gazer into the crystalglobe!" gibed Bess.
"I'm no prophetess," disclaimed Cora. "I just have a feeling that way.Perhaps I'll have the laugh on you scoffers yet."
"We're willing to wait," returned Belle. "Just now it's the present morethan the future that I'm worrying about. That Good Samaritan act of ourshas taken up a good deal of time. And you know that we planned to stop inthat department store when we get to Roxbury and buy some of the thingswe came away without in our hurry this morning. I've simply got to havethat chiffon."
"And I need a new box of powder," put in Bess. "My old one is nearlyempty."
"Such victims of the vanity of this world," sighed Cora. "But don'tworry, girls. I'll throw in a little extra speed and you'll hear the carfairly purr."
"Not too fast," cautioned Belle. "After what we saw to-day in the way offast driving, I'm willing to go a little slower."
"I'll be careful," promised Cora; "but all the same we can afford to go agood deal faster than we are moving now."
She threw in more speed, and the gallant car responded at once withscarcely an added vibration. In a short time Roxbury was in sight, andturning into one of the main streets, they drew up before the doors ofthe leading store of the town.
They went at once to the veiling department, where Belle purchased herchiffon. That and the powder that Bess secured in the drug departmentcompleted all the buying that they had intended to do. But they were truedaughters of Eve, and so many things met their eyes that they were surethey simply could not do without, that before they knew it they hadbought quite extensively.
They were standing at one of the counters, waiting for their change,which seemed an unconscionable time in coming.
"Even Job would have lost patience if there had been department stores inhis day," remarked Belle.
"But there _were_ department stores then," replied Cora.
"What do you mean?" asked Bess.
"There must have been," said Cora. "Don't you remember where Job says:'All the days of my life will I wait till my change come'?"
The girls laughed, but the laugh quickly faded when Cora gave a startledexclamation:
"Oh, girls, I've lost my purse!"
"You don't mean it!" cried Belle.
"Are you sure?" asked Bess.
"I had it in my hand just a minute ago," replied Cora in much agitation."I took that ten dollar bill out of it that they're making change fornow. I must have laid it down for a minute, and now it's gone."
There were a number of bolts of cloth on the counter near which the girlswere standing, and they made a hurried search among them without result.
"And I had nearly a hundred dollars in it," mourned Cora. "Will youplease help me look for my purse?" she asked of the man behind thecounter, who had been standing with his back toward them, busily packingpieces of cloth on the shelves.
He turned toward them, rather reluctantly the girls thought, and theywere startled to find themselves looking into the eyes of the young manwho had annoyed them while they were lunching at the roadside.
A flush suffused his face as the girls looked at him coldly.
"What can I do for you, ladies?" he asked, in an obsequious tone that wasin strong contrast with the impudent one he had used a few hours before.
"I've lost my purse about here somewhere," said Cora, "and as it had aconsiderable sum of money in it I am very anxious to have it found."
He was profuse in his expressions of regret, and began with apparenteagerness to turn over all the goods on the counter, while the girlswatched anxiously. But there was no sign of the purse to be seen.
Just then the manager of the store came along, an alert, keen-eyed man,and seeing the little commotion about the counter, asked courteously ifhe could be of any assistance.
He listened carefully to what Cora had to say.
"It's singular," he said. "There doesn't seem from what you say to havebeen anybody standing close by within the last few minutes. Are you quitesure that you had the purse when you came to this counter?"
"Positive," replied Cora. "I haven't moved from here since I took thebill out of the purse to pay for the goods I bought."
"Have you made a careful search, Higby?" asked the manager, fixing hissharp eyes upon the clerk as though he would read him through andthrough.
"Yes, sir," replied Higby; "but I'll go through the goods again to makesure."
He tossed the bolts of cloth about vigorously, and after a moment gave anexclamation of triumph.
"Here it is!" he cried. "Is this your purse, miss?" he asked, holding thearticle out to Cora.
The latter pounced upon it with a little squeal of delight.
"Oh, yes, that's it!" she exclaimed. "Thank you ever so much."
"You would better look over the money to make sure it is all there,"suggested the manager.
Cora ran hastily over the roll of bills.
"It's all right," she announced in a tone of relief.
The manager expressed his gratification at its recovery, coupled with anexpression of regret at the annoyance she had suffered, and the missingchange having come by this time, the girls hurriedly gathered theirpurchases together and left the store.
"You lucky girl!" exclaimed Belle, as Cora started the car.
"Luckier than I deserve," laughed Cora happily. "It was awfully carelessof me to let the purse out of my hand for a second. It would have servedme right if I had lost it."
"Do you think you really lost it?" asked Belle significantly.
The girls looked at each other, and it was evident that the same thoughtwas shared by all.
"Perhaps it seems mean to say it," remarked Cora slowly, "but since youask me, I must say that the whole thing looks queer. There was the way hekept his back to us when we were looking for it on our own account. But Idon't lay so much weight on that, because he might have recognized us andfelt a little sheepish after the way we took him down this afternoon. Butwhy couldn't he have found it before the manager came along, and why didhe find it so promptly when the manager was standing there watching him?Of course, it might have been mixed up in the folds of the cloth thefirst time, and dropped out when he went over the goods again the secondtime. I suppose anyway we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt."
"He doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me," said Bess in soemphatic a manner that the others, accustomed to her easy-going ways,looked at her in astonishment.
"You hard-hearted thing!" exclaimed her sister.
"What do you mean?" asked Cora.
"Listen, my children, and you shall hear," began Bess in her best manner."I kept my eye on that young gentleman----"
"The Gorgon stare," murmured her sister.
"When he was turning those bolts of cloth the second time," went on Bess,disdaining to dignify the interruption by noticing it, "and while he wasfumbling them with one hand, I saw him bring up the purse from beneaththe counter with the other hand and slip it under the cloth. Then, beforeI could say anything, he called out that he had found it. I could haveshaken you when you thanked him so sweetly, Cora Kimball."
The girls looked at each other aghast.
"Did you ever?" gasped Belle.
"He ought to be exposed!" exclaimed Cora indignantly.
"I suppose he ought," agreed Bess placidly. "But after all, the proofwouldn't be strong enough. It would be simply my word against his, andhe'd swear black and blue that I was mistaken. We'd only get mixed up inan ugly mess, and nothing would come of it after all. I fancy that thatyoung man will get to the end of his rope soon enough without our havinganything to do with it. Thank your lucky stars, Cora, that you've gotyour money back, and let it go at that."
"To think of Bess playing sleuth and tracking crime to its lair!" criedBelle. "I didn't think she had it in her."
"Oh, I'm some little bright-eyes, if you ask me," remarked Besscomplacently, as she reached out for the last of the lemon drops.
"We'll have to work this up into amateur theatricals when the boys joinus," laughed Cora.
"Yes," agreed Belle, "we'll stage a one-act play and call it: 'The Greedof Gold; or, Bess Robinson, the Girl Detective.'"