"That's it," cried Dotty, "you've struck it, Doll. We're just specimens to him. He's studying a new kind of creature! And, maybe he did want to see what we'd do in given circumstances,—like an unjust accusation, and so he arranged this tragic situation."
"No," said Dolly, still in that unnerved, listless way, "no, that won't do, Dotty. If it were true, he'd never let Mr. Fenn be so rude to us. Why, this morning, I'm sure,—I KNOW,—Mr. Forbes was just as uncertain of what had become of that earring as—as any of us were."
"Well, have it your own way," and Dotty smiled good-naturedly at her chum, "but here's my decision. That thing is lost. Somehow or other, for some ridiculous reason, blame seems to be attached to my Dollyrinda. I won't stand it! I hereby announce that I'm going to find that missing gimcrack before I go back to my native heath,—if I have to take all summer!"
"Aren't you going home on Wednesday?" cried Dolly, looking aghast at the idea.
"Not unless that old thing is found! I'll telephone my dear parents not to look for me until they see me. I'll hunt every nook and cranny of Mr. Forbes' house, and when I get through, I'll hunt over again. But find the thing, I will! So there, now!"
"Why do you say Dolly is suspected?" asked Alicia.
"Oh, you all know she is, just because she hooked the foolish thing into her lace. She put it on the table after that, and every one of us probably handled it, but no, it is laid to Dolly! Just because she's the only one of us incapable of such a thing,—I guess!"
"Why, Dot Rose, what a speech!" and Dolly almost laughed at the belligerent Dotty. "None of us would take it wrongly, I'm sure—but—"
"Well, but what?" demanded Alicia, as Dolly paused.
"Oh, nothing, Alicia, but the same old arguments. Mistake,—unintentional,—caught in our dresses,—and all that." Dolly spoke wearily, as if worn out with the subject.