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Mrs. Berry listened with interest to their story. Interest that quickly turned to deep concern as the story went on.
"I don't like it," she said, as the girls paused to hear her comments. "No carelessness or thoughtlessness could make that valuable earring disappear off the face of the earth! I mean, it couldn't get LOST, it must have been taken."
"By us?" flared out Alicia.
"Maybe not meaningly, maybe for a joke, maybe unconsciously; but it was carried out of that room by some one, of that I'm certain."
"The idea of thinking we'd do it as a joke!" cried Bernice.
"But you told me about the joke Mr. Forbes played on you about the B. C. image, why mightn't one of you have taken this to tease him? Oh, girls, if any of you did,—give it back, I beg of you! Mr. Forbes is a kind man, but a very just one. If you give it back at once, and explain, he will forgive you, fully and freely. But if you delay too long he will lose patience. And, too, you must know he wants to—"
"Wants to what, Mrs. Berry?" asked Dotty, for the lady had stopped speaking very suddenly.
"Never mind. I forgot myself. But Mr. Forbes has a very strong reason for wishing to sift this matter to the bottom. Don't, girls,—oh, DON'T deceive him!"
"What makes you think we're deceiving him?" cried Dotty. "That's the way old Fenn talks! Isn't he a disagreeable man, Mrs. Berry?"
"Mr. Fenn is peculiar," she admitted, "but it isn't nice for you to criticise Mr. Forbes' secretary. He is a trusted employee, and of great use in his various capacities."
"But he was very rude to us," complained Alicia. "He was positively insulting to Dolly and me."
"Don't remember it," counselled Mrs. Berry. "The least you have to do with him the better. Forget anything he may have said, and keep out of his way all you can."
Mr. Forbes' housekeeper was a tactful and peaceable woman, and she well knew the temperament and disposition of the secretary. She herself disliked him exceedingly, but it was part of her diplomacy to avoid open encounter with him. And she deemed it best for the girls to follow her course.
"I think," she said finally, "the best thing for you to do, is to go for a nice motor ride in the park. It is a lovely day, and the ride will do you good and make you feel a heap better. Then on your return, stop at a pretty tearoom, and have some cakes and chocolate, or ices; and while you're gone, I'll have a little talk with Mr. Forbes, and, who knows, maybe we might find the earring!"
"You're going to search our boxes!" cried Alicia. "Well, I won't submit to such an insult! I shall lock mine before I go out."
"So shall I," declared Dolly. "I think we all ought to. Really, Mrs. Berry, it's awful for you to do a thing like that!"
"Mercy me! girls, how you do jump at conclusions! I never said a word about searching your rooms. I had no thought of such a thing! You mustn't condemn me unheard! You wouldn't like that, yourselves!"
"Indeed, we wouldn't, Mrs. Berry," cried Dolly, smiling at her. "I apologise for my burst of temper, I'm sure. But I hate to be suspected."
"Be careful, Dolly, not to be selfish. Others hate to be suspected too—"
"Yes, but I'm innocent!" cried Dolly, and as soon as she had spoken she blushed fiery red, and her sweet face was covered with confusion.
"Meaning somebody else ISN'T innocent!" spoke up Alicia; "who, please?"
"Me, probably," said Dotty, striving to turn the matter off with a laugh. "Dolly and I always suspect each other on principle—"
"Oh, pooh! This is no time to be funny!" and Alicia looked daggers at the smiling Dotty.
"You're right, Alicia, it isn't!" she flashed back, and then Mrs. Berry's calm voice interrupted again.
"Now, girlies, don't quarrel among yourselves. There's trouble enough afoot, without your adding to it. Take my advice. Go and put on some pretty dresses and then go for a ride, as I told you, and get your tea at the 'Queen Titania' tearoom. It's just lately been opened, and it's a most attractive place. But promise not to squabble. Indeed, I wish you'd promise not to discuss this matter of the earring. But I suppose that's too much to ask!"
"Yes, indeed, Mrs. Berry," and Bernice smiled at her. "I'm sure we couldn't keep that promise if we made it!"
"Well, don't quarrel. It can't do any good. Run along now, and dress."
The cheery good-nature of the housekeeper helped to raise the girls' depressed spirits, and after they had changed into pretty afternoon costumes and donned their coats and furs, they had at least, partially forgotten their troubles of the morning.
But not for long. As they sped along in the great, comfortable car, each found her thoughts reverting to the sad episode, and oh, with what varied feelings!
Suddenly, Bernice broke out with a new theory.
"I'll tell you what!" she exclaimed; "Uncle Jeff hid that thing himself, to see how we would act! Then he pretended to suspect us! That man is studying us! Oh, you needn't tell ME! I've noticed it ever since we came. He watches everything we do, and when he says anything especial, he looks closely, to see how we're going to take it."
"I've noticed that, too," agreed Dolly. "But it's silly, Bernie, to think he took his own jewel."
"Just to test us, you know. I can't make out WHY he wants to study us so, but maybe he's writing a book or something like that. Else why did he want not only Alicia and me but two of our friends to come for this visit? He studies us, not only as to our own characters, but the effect we have on each other."
Dotty looked at Bernice with interest.
"You clever thing!" she cried; "I do believe you're right! I've caught Uncle Forbes frequently looking at one or another of us with the most quizzical expression and listening intently for our answers to some question of right or wrong or our opinions about something."
"I've noticed it," said Dolly, though in an indifferent tone, "but I don't think he's studying us. I think he's so unused to young people that everything we do seems strange to him. Why any of our fathers would know what we're going to say before we say it. Mine would anyhow and so would Dot's. But Mr. Forbes is surprised at anything we say or do because he never saw girls at close range before. I think we interest him just like his specimens do."
"That's it," cried Dotty, "you've struck it, Doll. We're just specimens to him. He's studying a new kind of creature! And, maybe he did want to see what we'd do in given circumstances,—like an unjust accusation, and so he arranged this tragic situation."
"No," said Dolly, still in that unnerved, listless way, "no, that won't do, Dotty. If it were true, he'd never let Mr. Fenn be so rude to us. Why, this morning, I'm sure,—I KNOW,—Mr. Forbes was just as uncertain of what had become of that earring as—as any of us were."
"Well, have it your own way," and Dotty smiled good-naturedly at her chum, "but here's my decision. That thing is lost. Somehow or other, for some ridiculous reason, blame seems to be attached to my Dollyrinda. I won't stand it! I hereby announce that I'm going to find that missing gimcrack before I go back to my native heath,—if I have to take all summer!"
"Aren't you going home on Wednesday?" cried Dolly, looking aghast at the idea.
"Not unless that old thing is found! I'll telephone my dear parents not to look for me until they see me. I'll hunt every nook and cranny of Mr. Forbes' house, and when I get through, I'll hunt over again. But find the thing, I will! So there, now!"
"Why do you say Dolly is suspected?" asked Alicia.
"Oh, you all know she is, just because she hooked the foolish thing into her lace. She put it on the table after that, and every one of us probably handled it, but no, it is laid to Dolly! Just because she's the only one of us incapable of such a thing,—I guess!"
"Why, Dot Rose, what a speech!" and Dolly almost laughed at the belligerent Dotty. "None of us would take it wrongly, I'm sure—but—"
"Well, but what?" demanded Alicia, as Dolly paused.
"Oh, nothing, Alicia, but the same old arguments. Mistake,—unintentional,—caught in our dresses,—and all that." Dolly spoke wearily, as if worn out with the subject.
"Well, I've a new theory," said Dotty, "I believe that Fenn man stole it!"
The other three laughed, but Dotty went on. "Yes, I do. You see, he's never had a chance to take any of the treasures before, 'cause Uncle Forbes would know he was the thief. But now he has all us four to lay it on, so he made the most of his chance."
"Oh, Dotty, I can't believe it!" said Bernice. "He didn't act like a thief this morning. He was more like an avenging justice."
"That's just his smartness! Make it seem as if we did it, you know."
"Nothing in it," and Dolly smiled at Dotty's theory. "He wasn't here yesterday, at all. He didn't know that I hooked the old thing on my waist,—oh, I WISH I hadn't done that!"
"Never you mind, Dollums," Dotty said, endearingly. "If he did do it, we'll track him down. Because, girls, I tell you I'm going to find that earring. And what Dorothy Rose says, goes! See?"
Dotty's brightness cheered up the others, and as they drove through the park, there were many sights of interest, and after a time the talk drifted from the subject that had so engrossed them.
And when at last they stopped at the new tea room and went in, the beauty and gaiety of the place made them almost forget their trouble.
"I'll have cafe parfait," said Dotty, "with heaps of little fancy cakes. We can't get real FANCY cakes in Berwick, and I do love 'em!"
The others were of a like mind, and soon they were feasting on the rich and delicate confections that the modern tea room delights to provide.
While they sat there, Muriel Brown came in, accompanied by two of her girl friends.
"Oh, mayn't we chum with you?" Muriel cried, and our four girls said yes, delightedly.
"How strange we should meet," said Dolly, but Muriel laughed and responded, "Not so very, as I'm here about four or five days out of the seven. I just simply love the waffles here, don't you?"
And then the girls all laughed and chattered and the New Yorkers invited the other four to several parties and small affairs.
"New York is the most hospitable place I ever saw!" declared Dotty. "We seem to be asked somewhere every day for a week."
"Everybody's that," laughed Muriel. "But you must come to these things we're asking you for, won't you?"
"I don't believe we can promise," said Bernice, suddenly growing serious. "You see, we may go home on Wednesday."
"Day after to-morrow? Oh, impossible! Don't say the word!" And with a laugh, Muriel dashed away the unwelcome thought. "I shall depend upon you," she went on, "especially for the Friday party. That's one of the best of all! You just MUST be at it!"
"If we're here, we will," declared Alicia, carried away by the gay insistence. "And I'm 'most sure Bernice and I will be here, even if the others aren't."
"I want you all," laughed Muriel, "but I'll take as many as I can get."
Then into the limousine again, and off for home.
"Oh," cried Dolly, "that horrid business! I had almost forgotten it!"
"We can't forget it till it's settled," said Dotty, and her lips came tightly together with a grim expression that she showed only when desperately in earnest.
CHAPTER XV
DOLLY'S RIDE
It was Tuesday morning that Lewis Fenn came to Dolly and asked her to give him a few moments' chat.
A little bewildered, Dolly followed Fenn into the reception room, and they sat down, Fenn closing the door after them.
"It's this way, Miss Fayre," he began. "I know you took the gold earring. It's useless for you to deny it. It speaks for itself. You are the only one of you girls especially interested in antiques, and moreover, you are the one who handled the jewel last. Now, I don't for a moment hold you guilty of stealing. I know that you thought the thing of no very great intrinsic value, and as Mr. Forbes has so many such things in his possession you thought one more or less couldn't matter to him. So, overcome by your desire to keep it as a souvenir, and because of its antique interest you involuntarily took it away with you. Of course, searching your boxes is useless, for you have concealed it some place in the house where no one would think of looking. Now, I come to you as a friend, and advise you to own up. I assure you, Mr. Forbes will forgive you and he will do so much more readily if you go to him at once and confess."
Dolly sat rigidly, through this long citation, her face growing whiter, her eyes more and more frightened, as she listened. When Fenn paused, she struggled to speak but couldn't utter a sound. She was speechless with mingled emotions. She was angry, primarily, but other thoughts rushed through her brain and she hesitated what attitude to assume.
The secretary looked at her curiously.
"Well?" he said, and there was a threatening tone in his voice.
Dolly looked at him, looked straight into his accusing eyes, began to speak, and then, in a burst of tears, she cried out, "Oh, how I HATE you!"
Dotty flung open the door and walked in.
"I've been listening," she announced, "listening at the keyhole, to hear what you said to my friend! I heard, and I will answer you. Dolly Fayre no more took that earring, than you did, Mr. Fenn, and I'm inclined to think from your manner, that you stole it yourself!"
"What!" shouted Fenn, surprised out of his usual calm. "What do you mean, you little minx?"
"Just what I say," repeated Dotty, but Dolly had already fled from the room. She went in search of Mrs. Berry, and found her in her own bedroom.
"Please, Mrs. Berry," said Dolly, controlling her sob-shaken voice, "I want to go out, all by myself, a little while. May I?"
"Goodness, child, what do you mean? Where? I'll go with you."
"No; I want to go alone. I have to think something out all by myself. Nobody can help me, and if I'm here, all the girls will butt in and bother me."
"Where are you going? For a walk?"
"No, please. I want to ride on the top of a Fifth Avenue stage. I want to go alone, and then, sitting up there, with the fresh air blowing around me, I can think something out. I may go, mayn't I, Mrs. Berry? I know all about the stages."
"Why, yes, child, of course, you can go, if you really want to. You can't come to any harm just riding on top of a bus. Run along. But I'd rather you'd let me help you. Or go with you."
"No, please; I must be alone. I don't want even Dotty. I have something very serious to decide. No one can help me. My mother could, but she isn't here."
"I wish you'd try me," and the kind lady smiled endearingly.
"I would if I could, and you're a dear to ask me. But this is a special matter, and it troubles me awfully. So, I'll go off by myself for an hour or so, and when I come back, I'll be all decided about it."
Dolly got her hat and coat, without seeing the other girls at all. She went out at the front door of the big Fifth Avenue house, and walked a few blocks before she stopped to wait for a stage.
"I don't care which way I go," she thought to herself, "I'll take the first bus that comes along."
The first one chanced to be going down-town, and signalling the conductor, Dolly climbed the little winding stairs to the top.
There were only half a dozen passengers up there, and Dolly sat down near the front.
It was a clear, crisp morning. The air was full of ozone, and no sooner had Dolly settled herself into her seat, than she began to feel better. Her mind cleared and she could combat the problems that were troubling her. But she was in a dilemma. Should she go to Mr. Forbes and tell him where the jewel was,—or, should she not?
She wanted to be honest, she wanted to do right, but it would be a hard task. The more she thought it over, the more she was perplexed, and though her spirits were cheered by the pleasant ride, her troubles were as far as ever from a solution.
Down she went, down the beautiful Avenue, past the Sherman statue and the Plaza fountain. On, past the Library, down through the shopping district, and then Dolly concluded she would go on down to the Washington Arch, and stay in the same bus for the return trip.
But, before she realised it, she found the bus she was in had turned East on Thirty-second Street, and was headed for the Railroad Station. She started up, to get off the stage, but sat down again.
"What's the use?" she thought. "I can just as well go on to the station, and come back again. I only want the ride."
So she went on, and at the station, she was asked to take another stage. Down the stairs she climbed, and as she glanced at the great colonnade of the building she realised that from there trains went home! Home,—where mother was!
Unable to resist, Dolly obeyed an impulse to enter the station.
The warm, pleasant atmosphere of the arcade, soothed her nerves, and she walked along, thinking deeply.
She came to the stairs that led down to the waiting rooms, and a great wave of homesickness came over her.
She would go home! She had money with her, she would buy a ticket, and go straight to Berwick! She couldn't, she simply COULD NOT face Uncle Jeff and the girls, with her secret untold, and she would not tell it!
Anyway, she couldn't go back to the house where that horrid Fenn was! That was certain.
She looked in her pocket-book, and tucked away in its folds was the return half of her Berwick ticket! She had forgotten that she had it with her. It seemed a finger of Fate pointing the way.
"I will," she decided. "I will go back to Berwick. I'll ask about the trains."
Inquiry at the Information Department told her that there would be a train for Berwick in half an hour, and Dolly went in and sat down in the waiting room.
Suddenly it struck her that the people at Mr. Forbes' would be alarmed at her non-appearance, and would be very anxious for her safety.
That would never do. She had no wish to disturb kind Mrs. Berry or to scare Dotty half to death.
She saw the telephone booths near by, and realised how easy it would be to communicate with the house.
She asked the operator for the number of Jefferson Forbes' residence and in a moment was in the booth.
The butler responded to her call, and Dolly did not ask for any one else.
"That you, McPherson?" she said, speaking as casually as she could.
"Yes, Miss Fayre. Will you speak with Mrs. Berry?"
"No; I'll give you a message. Please say to Miss Rose that I have gone to Berwick."
"To Berwick, miss?"
"Yes; and tell Mrs. Berry the same. That's all, McPherson; no message for any one else."
"Yes, Miss Fayre. When will you be back, Miss Fayre?"
"Not at all. Or, that is,—never mind that. Just say I have gone to Berwick. I'll write to Miss Rose as soon as I get there."
"Yes, Miss Fayre," and the butler hung up his receiver. It was not his business if the ladies came or went.
In obedience to orders, McPherson went to Mrs. Berry and delivered the message.
"The dear child," said the housekeeper, and the tears came to her eyes. Of course, she knew about the earring episode, and until now she hadn't suspected that Dolly really took it. But to run away practically proved her guilt. So she had meant to go when she asked permission to go on the bus! Mrs. Berry's heart was torn, for she loved Dolly best of the four, and it was a blow to be thus forced to believe her guilty. She quizzed the butler, but he had no further information to give.
"She only said she was going, ma'am, and said for me to tell you and Miss Rose. That's all."
"I will tell Miss Rose," said Mrs. Berry, and dismissed the man.
She thought deeply before going to find Dotty. She wondered if she might yet stay Dolly's flight and persuade her to return. She looked up a timetable, and found that the train for Berwick would leave in ten minutes. Doubtless Dolly was already in the car.
However, being a woman of energetic nature, Mrs. Berry telephoned to the Railroad Station. She asked for a porter, and begged him to try to find Dolly, whom she described, and ask her to come to the telephone.
"I remember seeing that girl," said the negro porter. "She was walking around sort of sad-like, and sort of uncertain. But I don't see her now."
"Look on the Berwick train," commanded Mrs. Berry, "and do it quickly. If she's on the train, ask her to get off and answer my call. I think she'll do it. Go quickly! I'll hold the wire."
But it was within a few minutes of starting time; the train was crowded, and after a short search the porter came back with the word that he couldn't find her. "I could of," he said, "if I'd 'a' had a minute more. But the Train Despatcher put me off, and they started. Sorry, ma'am."
"I'm sorry, too," and Mrs. Berry sighed as she realised how near she had come to success, only to fail.
She thought a few moments longer, then she went to find Dotty.
That young person, she discovered, to her astonishment, was up in Mr. Forbes' own study, on the fourth floor. Dotty had insisted on an interview with her host after the stormy time she had with his secretary.
Mr. Forbes had received her, not at all unwillingly, for he wanted to get at the truth of the unpleasant matter.
"Dolly never took it!" Mrs. Berry heard Dotty, declare, as she approached the door. "Either it's just lost, or else Mr. Fenn stole it,—or else—"
"Or else what?" asked Mr. Forbes, as Dotty paused.
"I don't like to say," and Dotty twisted her finger nervously; "I do suspect somebody,—at least, I fear maybe I do, a little bit, but I won't say anything about it, unless you keep on blaming Dolly. Then I will!"
"I have something to tell you," said Mrs. Berry, entering. "Dolly has gone home."
"What!" cried Mr. Forbes and Dotty simultaneously. Lewis Fenn smiled.
"Yes," continued Mrs. Berry, "she has gone home to Berwick. She came to me and asked if she might go for a ride on top of a Fifth Avenue stage, to think things out by herself,—she said. Then, a little later, she telephoned from the Pennsylvania Station that she was just taking the train for Berwick."
"I don't believe it!" cried Dotty. "Who told you?"
"McPherson. He took the message. Dolly said to tell you, Dotty, and to tell me, but she sent no word to any one else."
"Looks bad," said Mr. Forbes, shaking his head.
"I told you so!" said Lewis Fenn, nodding his. "I knew when I flatly accused Miss Fayre this morning of taking the earring, that she was the guilty one. Understand me, she didn't mean to steal. She didn't look upon it as theft. She only took a fancy to the bauble, and appropriated it without really thinking it wrong. As a child would take a worthless little trinket, you know."
Dotty looked stunned. She paid no attention to Fenn's talk; she stared at Mrs. Berry, saying, "Has she really gone?"
"Yes, dear," answered the sympathetic lady, "she has. Perhaps it's the best thing. She'll tell her mother all about it, and then we'll know the truth."
"Yes, she'll confess to her mother," said Fenn, and he grinned in satisfaction.
"Shut up, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes. "I'm not at all sure Dolly is the culprit. If I know that girl, she wouldn't run away if she were guilty,—but she might if she were unjustly accused."
"That's generous of you, sir," said the secretary, "but you know yourself that when I taxed Miss Fayre definitely with the deed, she immediately went off, pretending that she was just going for a ride, and would return. That piece of deception doesn't look like innocence, I think you must admit!"
"No, no, it doesn't. Dotty, did you say you had some other suspicion? What is it?"
"I can't tell it now. I can't understand Dolly. I know, oh, I KNOW she never took the earring, but I can't understand her going off like that. She never pretends. She's never deceitful—"
"She surely was this time," and Fenn seemed to exult in the fact.
"Maybe she changed her plan after she started," suggested Dotty delorously.
"Not likely," mused Mr. Forbes. "It was unprecedented for her to go alone for a bus ride, but if it was because she wanted to get off home secretly, it is, of course, very plausible. She didn't want any of you girls to know she was going, lest you persuade her not to. She didn't want to go in my car alone, as that would seem strange. But to take a bus, that was really a clever way to escape unnoticed!"