They caught her point instantly, and trooped after her down-stairs, leaving Betty, Helena, and the Mystery to settle the matter as best they might. When they had gone Helena laughed a strained little laugh and began to explain herself.
“You’re always catching me in absurd situations, Miss Wales. But this can be explained as easily as the fire-escape affair. I’m sure you know I wasn’t trying to steal your sheets and towels. I had a reason for not wanting the girls in the house to know I was in Esther’s room to-day, so when I came up-stairs and found some of them with her, I slipped in here to wait till they’d gone; and you came and found me. That’s all.”
Betty had been thinking fast. “But the door was locked, Miss Mason—it is kept locked. How did you manage to get in and then lock it again?”
Helena flushed. “The key to any of these doors will unlock any other, Miss Wales.”
“But where did you get such a key?” Betty persisted. “How did you happen to have one ready to-day?”
“I took it out of one of the doors over there.” Helena pointed vaguely toward a cluster of empty rooms.
“Where is it now?” Betty demanded.
Helena flushed redder than ever. “I’m sure I don’t know—on the floor in there, probably.”
Betty got a match and began groping around on the floor of the linen room. But after a minute Esther Bond, who had said nothing so far, came forward and confronted Helena.
“Why don’t you tell the truth at once?” she asked. “You’ll have to in the end. Don’t hunt there, Miss Wales. She’s wearing the key on her watch-chain.”