"No," Ann responded, "but I don't understand you quite." There was a look of relief on her face, for it was plain to her now, beyond a shadow of doubt, that Violet knew nothing of the lost purse. "I never trouble about what people think of me," she continued, "I am sure it is a mistake to do so. But, Violet, you are wrong in imagining that the girls who have snubbed you have done so on account of—of your position. If you had not induced me to ask Agnes to our house we should have been spared a lot of unhappiness, for she says—it is best to tell you the truth, for I foresee you will find it out—that she suspects you of having taken her purse. Yes, that is what she has been telling the girls, and I—I have not liked to speak to you about it for —for—"
"She suspects me of having taken her purse!" Violet cried excitedly. "Why, how could I have done that? What an absurd thing to suggest!"
"She says you might have taken it up from my bed as you were the last of us to leave the room that evening—"
"I remember I was," interrupted Violet; "but I never saw her purse after she put it into her muff. And she suspects me of having taken it—stolen it! She considers me a thief!"
The girl was trembling with anger, her eyes flashed, and she clenched her hands in her rage. Suddenly she turned upon Ann, almost fiercely, with the question:—
"Do you suspect me, too?"
"No, Violet no," Ann replied earnestly; "but I have not known what to do. I have been so anxious, and—and puzzled. I have not been able to understand you. You seemed so bitterly to regret having induced me to ask Agnes to tea—of course I see why that was now—and once or twice I—I have half doubted you, against my will, I—I could not help it. Oh, forgive me! I am sure now that you know nothing about the purse! Oh, I have been so wretched!"
Violet stared at her companion in silence for a minute, then she covered her face with her hands and burst into a flood of passionate tears. Ann sat by her, silent and miserable, incapable of offering any consolation, and when, by-and-by, she ventured to put her arm around her she was promptly repulsed.
"Let me alone!" Violet cried. "To think that you should have believed me to be a thief! Oh, it is horrible—horrible!"
"Violet, don't be too hard on me!" Ann said, pleadingly; "you must remember that it was your own conduct which made me doubt you; and it was the very faintest doubt, indeed it was, I put it away again and again, and then something you would say or do would bring it back. And—and I could not understand where you got the money to pay for your new tennis racquet, and—"