CHAPTER XIII
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'tmean that. Not intentionally, that is. But without thinking, couldn't--"
"No, she couldn't!" stormed Dotty. "Dolly Fayre doesn't go aroundpocketing people's jewels unconsciously! She isn't a kleptomaniac, orwhatever you call it! She did exactly as she says she did. She laidthat 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 KNOWwho! And I don't CARE who! But Dolly put it there, and whoever took itaway 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, asyou all have, too. It can't be HERE, you know."
"I'll tell you," said Alicia, eagerly, and then she described how inher home a photograph had slipped down behind the mantel and had beenlost for years.
"Let us see," and Mr. Forbes went to the mantel in the room. But therewas 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 somewhereelse. Let's look all over."
The girls tried hard to find some crack or crevice in any piece offurniture, into which the trinket might have slipped, but there wasnone. They felt down between backs and seats of chairs, looked behindcases 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 thisroom, and that's all there is about that! Now, it's up to us to findit. You know, after you search all the possible places, you have tosearch the impossible ones."
"I admire your perseverance," said Mr. Forbes, "but I can't hope itwill be rewarded. It isn't as if we were hunting for a thing thatsomebody had purposely concealed, that would mean an exhaustive search.But we're looking for something merely mislaid or tossed aside, and ifwe 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'sphotograph slipped behind the mantel, that was deeply hidden, althoughnot purposely."
"Yes, that's so," and Uncle Jeff looked questioningly from one girl toanother.
It was impossible to ignore the fact that he deemed one of themresponsible for the disappearance of the jewel, and until the matterwas cleared up, all felt under suspicion. Fenn, too, was studying thefour 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 theearring first, when Mr. Forbes handed it out from the case?"
"I did," said Dotty, promptly. "I stood nearest to Mr. Forbes and hehanded 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 wasBernice."
"I did have it in my hands," said Bernice, reflectively, "but I can'tremember 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 onto 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 itup and asked you how it looked."
"No, Doll, you asked me that," said Bernice, "and I said it was verybecoming."
"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 veryclearly."
"Hold on, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes, reprovingly. "It's in the girls'favour that they don't remember clearly. If they tossed the thing asidecarelessly, they naturally wouldn't remember."
"But, Mr. Forbes," and the secretary spoke earnestly, "would theseyoung ladies toss a valuable gem away carelessly? They are not ignorantchildren. They all knew that the earring is a choice possession. I'msure not one of them would toss it aside, unheeding where it mightfall!"
This was perfectly true. None of the four girls could have been soheedless as that! They had carefully handled every gem or curio shownthem, 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 thefour girls looked from one to another and then at Mr. Forbes. He wasstudying them intently.
Bernice and Dolly were crying. Alicia and Dotty were dry-eyed andangry-faced. If one of the four had a secret sense of guilt, it wasdifficult to guess which one it might be, for all were in a state ofexcitement and were well-nigh hysterical.
"Much as I regret it," Mr. Forbes began, "I am forced to the conclusionthat one or more of you girls knows something of the presentwhereabouts of my lost jewel. I do not say I suspect any of you ofwilful 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 theexpression of her face denoted deepest sarcasm. "It is a comfort toknow that you do not call us thieves! But, for my part, I think it isabout as bad to accuse us of concealing knowledge of the matter. Ithink you'd better search our trunks and suitcases! And then, if youplease, I should like to go home--"
"No doubt you would, Miss Rose!" broke in Fenn's cold voice. "A searchof your belongings would be useless. If one of you is concealing thejewel, it would not be found in any available place of search. Youwould have put it some place in the house, not easy of discovery. Thatwould not be difficult."
"Be quiet, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes. "Girls, I'm not prepared to say Ithink one of you has hidden the jewel, but I do think that some of youmust know something about it. How can I think otherwise? Now, tell meif it is so. I will not scold,--I will not even blame you, if you havebeen tempted, or if having accidentally carried it off, you are ashamedto own up. I'm not a harsh man. I only want the truth. You can't besurprised 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 Inever received it back. What can I think but that you have it yet? Itis valuable, to be sure, but the money worth of it is as nothing to theawfulness 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 beeither of their two young friends? I don't want to think so, but whatalternative have I? And I MUST know! For reasons which I do not care totell you, it is imperative that I shall discover who is at fault. Icould let the whole matter drop, but there is a very strong cause why Ishould not do so. I beg of you, my dear nieces,--my dear youngfriends,--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 facehidden in her handkerchief, was crying too.
Dotty sat stiffly erect in her chair, her little hands clenched, herbig, 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. "Goon, Miss Fayre. Which one has the accumulating tendency?"
"You do make me so mad!" exclaimed Dotty, glaring at him. "UncleForbes, can't we talk with you alone?"
"Oh, no, little miss," said Fenn, "Mr. Forbes is far too easy-going tol
ook after this affair by himself! He'd swallow all the stories yougirls would tell him! I'll remain, if you please. Unless you havesomething to conceal, you can't object to my presence at thisinteresting confab."
Dolly came to Dotty's aid. She looked at the secretary with a glance ofsupreme contempt.
"It is of no consequence, Mr. Fenn," she said, haughtily, "whether youare present or not. Uncle Forbes, I agree with Dotty. You saidyourself, you have an acquaintance who can't help taking treasures thatare 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 housesince we were in this room yesterday afternoon. So, if it is in thehouse, it must be found."
"Ha! You HAVE hidden it securely, to be willing to have a thoroughsearch of the house made!" and Fenn looked unpleasantly at her. "Ownup, 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, andagain she broke down and cried softly, but with great, convulsive sobs.
Dotty was furious but she said nothing to Fenn for she knew she wouldonly get the worst of it.
"Come now, Dolly," said Mr. Forbes, in a gentle way, "stop crying, mydear, and let's talk this over. Where did you lay the earring when youtook it from your dress?"
"On--on--the t-table," stammered Dolly, trying to stop crying. But, asevery one knows, it is not an easy thing to stem a flood of tears, andDolly couldn't speak clearly.
"Yes; what table?"
"This one," and Dotty spoke for her, and indicated the table by thesouth 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 thedull 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 Ididn't."
"I know," put in Dotty. "Because just then, Mr. Forbes showed us abracelet that had belonged to Cleopatra, and we all crowded round tolook 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 accuseyou of anything,--except carelessness."
"But when it comes to valuable antiques," interrupted Fenn, "it is whatis 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 sheshowed us, on that small table, somebody must have picked it up. Hercarelessness in laying it there might have resulted in its beingbrushed off on the floor, but not in its utter disappearance."
"Maybe it fell out of the window," suggested Bernice, suddenly, "thatwindow was open then, you know."
Mr. Forbes waited over to the table. "No," he said, "this stand isfully a foot from the window sill. It couldn't have been unknowinglybrushed as far as that."
"Of course, it couldn't," said Fenn, impatiently. "You're making noprogress at all, Mr. Forbes."
"Propose some plan, yourself, then," said Dotty, shortly; "you're sosmart, suppose you point your finger to the thief!"
"I hope to do so, Miss Rose," and Fenn smirked in a most aggravatingway. "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 insilent sympathy.
Suddenly Bernice spoke. She was not crying now, on the contrary, shewas composed and quiet.
"Uncle Jeff," she said, "this is a horrid thing that has happened. Ifeel awfully sorry about it all, but especially because it is making somuch 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, aswell as your guests. It is up to us, to free them from all suspicion inthis thing and that can only be done by finding the earring. I don'tbelieve 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 beshown up. I believe in fairness all round, and while I'm sure the jewelslipped into some place, or under or behind something, yet if itDIDN'T,--if somebody did,--well,--steal it! we must find out who. Iwouldn't be willing, even if you were, Uncle, to let the matter drop. Iwant 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 youI must know the truth of this thing,--never mind why, I MUST find itout. But how?"
"First," said Bernice, speaking very decidedly, but not looking towardthe other girls, "I think all our things ought to be searched."
"Oh, pshaw, Bernie," said Alicia, "that would be silly! You know if anyof us wanted to hide that earring we wouldn't put it in among ourclothes."
"Why not?" demanded Bernice. "I can't imagine any of us having it, butif we have, it's by accident. Why, it might have caught in any of ourdresses or sashes, and be tucked away there yet."
"That's so," and Dotty looked hopeful. "It could be, that as one of uspassed by the table, it got caught in our clothing. Anyway, we'll alllook."
"But don't look in your own boxes," objected Fenn. "Every girl mustsearch another's belongings."
"I wonder you'd trust us to do THAT!" snapped Dotty, and Fennimmediately replied:
"You're right! It wouldn't be safe! I propose that Mrs. Berry searchall 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 myadvice and help in this matter, now I must beg to be allowed to carryout my plans of procedure."
It was plain to be seen that Mr. Forbes was under the thumb of hissecretary. And this was true. Lewis Fenn had held his position for along time, and his services were invaluable to Jefferson Forbes. It wasnecessary that the collector should have a reliable, responsible andcapable man to attend to the duties he required of a secretary, andthese attributes Fenn fully possessed. But he was of a small,suspicious nature, and having decided on what course to pursueregarding the lost curio, he was not to be swerved from his path.
"Well, well, we will see," Mr. Forbes said, an anxious look wrinklinghis forehead as he looked at the girls. "Run away now, it's nearlyluncheon time. Don't worry over the thing. Each one of you knows herown heart. If you are innocent, you've no call to worry. If you areimplicated, even in a small degree in the loss of my property, come tome and tell me so. See me alone, if you like. I will hear yourconfession, and if it seems wise, I will keep it confidential. I can'tpromise this, for as I hinted, I have a very strong reason for probingthis affair to the very core. It is a mystery that MUST be cleared up!"