“On account of last night. Figure it out for yourself. If that had been a burglar, why wouldn’t Silky have barked when he was getting into the house? Why wouldn’t Elsie have heard him, if she was down in the kitchen, as she said? And how could he have gotten away so quickly? You think maybe he went out that window at the side of the house, but that’s only a guess. Elsie could have pretended to make an escape from the window while you were locked in the closet and then have slipped out the door and down to the kitchen.”
Mary Louise gasped in horror.
“It doesn’t sound possible,” she admitted.
“And the way she protested her innocence immediately,” added Jane. “Remember that?”
“Yes, I do. But there is a possible explanation, Jane. The burglar might have broken into the house while we were away and been hiding in the closet while I got ready for bed. I didn’t open the door.”
“But why would he do that? Why wouldn’t he finish the job and leave before we came back?”
“He might have just gotten in about the time we arrived at Dark Cedars.” She paused, thinking of Corinne Pearson. “Suppose it was Corinne—on her way to that dance——”
Jane shook her head. “Possible, but not probable,” she said. “No, I believe it was Elsie. Do you remember how pleased she was that I wasn’t going to sleep with you in Miss Mattie’s room? And how she sneaked in there night before last, scaring us so? Oh, Mary Lou, I think all the evidence points that way. And she’s beginning to notice our suspicion. That’s why she was so quiet at breakfast—and so glad to get rid of us.”
Mary Louise was silent; she did not tell Jane that she felt convinced that the burglar was of the feminine gender.
“Well, don’t say anything about our experience to anybody,” cautioned Mary Louise as the girls entered the Sunday school building. “I may talk it over with Daddy, if he’s home. But nobody else.”