Lettice shook her head. How could she reply?
"Lettice knows!" repeated the boy brokenly. "Hold me, Lettice! Don't go! . . . She put the bank-note . . . her own self . . . into Lettice's box! . . . I saw her . . . Mamsie knows quite well . . . And Lettice knows!"
Theodosia's face grew stony; and Dr. Bryant's changed to a grey whiteness.
"Who put the bank-note into Lettice's box, Keith?"
"Mamsie! Her own self! I saw her! . . . I can't think—how—she could!"
An oppressive silence followed, broken only by the boy's gasps.
Lettice was the first to speak.
"Keith, darling, don't think of all that now. Try to forget about the money. You have not to do with it, you know. Think of the stories I used to tell you, up in the playroom on Sunday afternoon. About JESUS, dying on the Cross, and how He loved the children always."
"Yes, I know! Will He take me—right away—up there?"
"I am sure He will. He loves you so; and He died for you, Keith. Ask Him now to forgive you all that you have done wrong; and to take care of you."