"Or else what?" asked Mr. Forbes, as Dotty paused.
"I don't like to say," and Dotty twisted her finger nervously; "I do suspect somebody,—at least, I fear maybe I do, a little bit, but I won't say anything about it, unless you keep on blaming Dolly. Then I will!"
"I have something to tell you," said Mrs. Berry, entering. "Dolly has gone home."
"What!" cried Mr. Forbes and Dotty simultaneously. Lewis Fenn smiled.
"Yes," continued Mrs. Berry, "she has gone home to Berwick. She came to me and asked if she might go for a ride on top of a Fifth Avenue stage, to think things out by herself,—she said. Then, a little later, she telephoned from the Pennsylvania Station that she was just taking the train for Berwick."
"I don't believe it!" cried Dotty. "Who told you?"
"McPherson. He took the message. Dolly said to tell you, Dotty, and to tell me, but she sent no word to any one else."
"Looks bad," said Mr. Forbes, shaking his head.
"I told you so!" said Lewis Fenn, nodding his. "I knew when I flatly accused Miss Fayre this morning of taking the earring, that she was the guilty one. Understand me, she didn't mean to steal. She didn't look upon it as theft. She only took a fancy to the bauble, and appropriated it without really thinking it wrong. As a child would take a worthless little trinket, you know."
Dotty looked stunned. She paid no attention to Fenn's talk; she stared at Mrs. Berry, saying, "Has she really gone?"