"I?" replied Meg, amazed.
"You cannot deny that you were there. I met you there!" Miss Pinkett rejoined excitedly.
"What do you mean?" said Meg. She looked round in a dazed manner, then a sudden fury gripped her throat as she understood the drift of the questions.
"Do you mean to say that you accuse me of stealing?"
"It does not amount to an accusation," said Miss Reeves. "I only ask you what you were doing in Miss Pinkett's room?"
"I never touched the diamond star," said Meg.
"Never! Do you mean," cried Miss Pinkett, "that you did not touch it that day I found you in my room with the diamond in your hand?"
"I touched it that day," said Meg, and paused; she had caught sight of Elsie, cowering pale and trembling against the wall.
"Why did you touch it? Why did you say I ought not to leave it about?" hotly questioned Miss Pinkett.
"I had a reason for touching it that day."