"I didn't touch it, I tell you!" and Alicia frowned angrily.
"Oh, yes, you did," said Dolly, "it was you, Alicia, who passed it on to me. And I took it—"
"You didn't take it from me, Dolly," and Alicia grew red with passion.
"I vow I never touched it! You took it from Bernice."
"No," said Dolly, trying to think. "I took it from you, and I held it up and asked you how it looked."
"No, Doll, you asked me that," said Bernice, "and I said it was very becoming."
"You girls seem decidedly mixed as to what you did," said Mr. Fenn, with a slight laugh. "I think you're not trying to remember very clearly."
"Hold on, Fenn," said Mr. Forbes, reprovingly. "It's in the girls' favour that they don't remember clearly. If they tossed the thing aside carelessly, they naturally wouldn't remember."
"But, Mr. Forbes," and the secretary spoke earnestly, "would these young ladies toss a valuable gem away carelessly? They are not ignorant children. They all knew that the earring is a choice possession. I'm sure not one of them would toss it aside, unheeding where it might fall!"
This was perfectly true. None of the four girls could have been so heedless as that! They had carefully handled every gem or curio shown them, and then returned it to Mr. Forbes as a matter of course.
Fenn's speech was rather a facer. All had to admit its truth, and the four girls looked from one to another and then at Mr. Forbes. He was studying them intently.