“Oh, well, we’ll leave our door open,” promised Jane.
“No, we can’t do that either,” asserted Mary Louise. “Miss Grant told me to close it.”
“Good gracious!” exclaimed her chum. “What next?”
“Supper’s ready!” called Hannah from the kitchen.
“So that’s next,” laughed Mary Louise. “Well, we’ll unpack after supper. I’m not very hungry—I had lunch so late—but I guess I can eat.”
Hannah came into the dining room and sat down in a chair beside the window while the girls ate their supper, so that she might hear the news of her mistress. Mary Louise told everything—the capture of the bills, the part Harry Grant played in the affair, and Corinne Pearson’s guilt in the actual stealing. She went on to describe Miss Grant’s collapse and removal to the Riverside Hospital, concluding with her request that the two girls stay with Elsie while she was away.
“So she still thinks I stole her gold pieces!” cried the orphan miserably.
“I’m afraid she does, Elsie,” admitted Mary Louise. “But there’s something else she’s worrying about. What could Miss Grant possibly own, Hannah, that she’s afraid of losing?”
“I don’t know for sure,” replied the servant. “But I’ll tell you what I think—if you won’t laugh at me.”
“Of course we won’t, Hannah,” promised Jane.