At this moment Betty sprang up with a cry of understanding. "I have it! Those two Germans! Don't you remember, Bishop, when they jostled against you? You remember?" she turned to Hester.
"Yes, I remember," nodded the dark-eyed girl.
"I wonder—" reflected the prelate.
"There's no doubt of it," pursued Betty. "That's how pickpockets work—two or three together."
As the train stopped the guard was summoned, and for some minutes there was greater excitement in the little station of Farmingdale than had been known there for years. The Bishop of Bunchester robbed of five thousand pounds! Robbed in a railway carriage in broad daylight! The news spread like wildfire, and presently the station master, the guard and the one officer on duty, were in low-voiced conclave at the carriage door, while wondering groups gathered on the platform. Five thousand pounds!
A careful search of the carriage having revealed nothing, it was decided that the three travelers must alight with their luggage so that the robbery could be further investigated while the train proceeded to London.
"I'll have to ask you to come this way, young lady," said the officer presently, to Hester. "Don't get excited. I'm not saying you took it, but you were in the carriage and—we've got to be on the safe side. How about her, your lordship?" He looked at Betty.
The bishop drew himself up to his full official dignity. "This is Miss Thompson, my friend, who is traveling with me."
"Oh! Beg pardon, miss. We have to know these things." He touched his hat apologetically to Betty. Then turning to the Storm girl: "Now then, it will only take a few minutes"; but his whispered instructions to the station master's wife were that the search must be thorough. The station master's wife nodded grimly and beckoned the girl to follow her into a private room, which Hester did with such an air of simple innocence, showing neither fear nor bravado, that she made a most favorable impression.
"I'm sure she had nothing to do with it," declared Betty. And the bishop agreed that it must have been the Germans.