"One of my dearest possessions. I went to my museum just now, to that rear room which we were in last, and I discovered that one of my valuable pieces of jewellery is gone."
The girls stared at him blankly, and at last, Bernice said, "Which one?"
"The Byzantine earring, the gold filigree piece."
"Oh," cried Alicia, "that lovely piece! Why, where can it be?"
"I don't know," replied her uncle, slowly. "I searched everywhere, and as I couldn't find it, I came down here to ask if you girls had taken it as—as a joke on me."
"No, indeed!" exclaimed Alicia. "I'd scorn to do such a mean trick!
None of us would think of such a thing, would we, girls?"
"No, indeed," said they all, and then a silence fell. Where could the jewel be? As always, in moments of excitement, Dolly turned very pale while Dotty flushed furiously red. Alicia, sat, her big eyes staring with dismay and Bernice nervously picked at her handkerchief.
"Come now," said Mr. Forbes, "if any of you girls did take it, in jest, give it up, for it isn't a funny joke at all."
"Oh, we didn't! I'm sure none of us did!" and Dolly almost wailed in her earnest denial.
"Of course, we didn't!" declared Dotty, angrily. "You ought to know we're not that sort of girls! It must have been mislaid, or pushed behind something that conceals it from view."