"If the purse has fallen into honest hands it will be returned," Ann remarked, as she paused with Violet to read the bill, "if otherwise, I suppose Agnes will always believe that she left it at our house. Do you imagine that she thinks one of the servants has it?" she asked anxiously.
"I don't know, I'm sure," Violet answered; "I'm almost afraid she does."
"Our servants are such honest, respectable girls, too!" Ann cried, really distressed. "I cannot think how Agnes can be so persistent in declaring she did not lose the purse in the street; I consider, to say the least of it, that it is very inconsiderate of her, for she must see that she puts us all in a very awkward position."
"She only thinks of herself," said Violet, in a troubled tone; "I wish we had not asked her to tea. It was my doing, but—"
She broke off and heaved a regretful sigh, whilst Ann said quickly:—
"Never mind; you did it for the best, out of the kindness of your heart. You felt she had no friends in the place, and you were sorry for her. Don't blame yourself; you could not possibly foresee that anything disagreeable would happen."
Violet turned her head aside that her companion might not observe her guilty flush, and her eyes filled with tears. It was like Ann to think better of her than she deserved, she told herself, for Ann was quick to credit others with good intentions. What would Ann say, she wondered, if she knew what had influenced her really to procure an invitation for Agnes Hosking to spend an afternoon at No. 8 Laureston Square? Would she despise her? Violet feared that she would.
Several days passed, and no one returned the purse. Agnes was sorry, for she was most desirous to regain possession of it, especially as she was to visit her grandmother at Easter, and would probably be blamed for having lost it; but, at the same time, she felt rather triumphant, for if it had been proved that she had dropped the purse out-of-doors, everyone would have been in the position to say 'I told you so,' and that would have made her look very small, for she had been so positive in stating that it had not been in her muff when she had left No. 8 Laureston Square.
The more she turned the matter over in her mind the more certain she became that the purse had been stolen from the doctor's house—from Ann's room; but her suspicion, which she had fixed on someone, did not rest upon one of the servants, as Ann imagined. For a while she kept her suspicion to herself, nor daring to put it into words; but there came a day, towards the end of the term, when she whispered it, in confidence, to a couple of her class-mates.
The two she had chosen to make her confidantes were not ill-natured girls; but they proved unable to keep a secret, and repeated what she had said to them to several others, and very soon it was known by the majority of the pupils at Helmsford College that Violet Wyndham was suspected by Agnes Hosking of having stolen the missing tortoise-shell purse. It was not said openly, however, and the term ended, and the school broke up for the Easter holidays without either Ann or Violet guessing the suspicion which had been so unscrupulously attached to the latter.