“If I am obliged to find it for myself, you certainly will!” said Jane, resolutely pushing back the chair from which she had been eating. “Now for a grand search!”
Her eyes accidentally fell on the hen-coop, as she spoke, and Madame De Marke, struck with terror, called out,—
“No, no, do not disturb the poor things; they have done nothing!”
A suspicion instantly seized upon Jane. She advanced toward the coop, and stooping down was about to remove it from its place.
“No, no, stop, I will tell you, Jane. Give me something to eat first, and I will tell you about it.”
“Tell me first!” persisted Jane, with her eyes on the hen-coop, “tell me where the box is, first!”
“Will you give me food if I do?”
“Yes, as much as you can eat.”
“Now?—at once?”
“Yes, this minute!”