"Well, I am surprised!" Eric cried, as he watched the conveyance disappear from sight. "I thought he never went outside the grounds."
"He never has since his son died, until now," Celia replied, and Mrs. Mallock, who was standing by, bore evidence to the truth of this statement by exclaiming: "No, indeed! Well, I never! Wonders will never cease!" Celia and Eric spent the first part of the morning together; they talked only of Joy, and longed for Sir Jasper's return. At length Eric fetched Wag for a run in the rock garden, and Celia went up to her own room. The idea had crossed her mind that now, if possible, was the time for putting back the butterfly brooch in its rightful place.
The girl quickly possessed herself of the jewel, and stole downstairs to the library, closing the door carefully behind her. She knew it was very unlikely she would be disturbed there, for Sir Jasper never allowed servants to interfere with anything in the room, and consequently Mrs. Mallock herself did the necessary cleaning. Celia glanced quickly around, and noticed everything was in apple-pie order; she then crossed to the safe and tried to open it, but found it locked. She had expected that, so she was not daunted, but turned her attention to the writing-table to see if Sir Jasper had left his bunch of keys there. Swiftly and cautiously she opened drawer after drawer, and turned over the contents of each; for some time she could not find the keys, and a feeling of keen disappointment mingled with despair was creeping into her heart, when in moving some loose papers she heard something jingle beneath. The next minute the keys were in her hand, and she was standing in front of the safe once more, trying to find the key which fitted the lock. Her fingers trembled and made her clumsy, so that it was a long time before she met with success; but after she had discovered the right key, it was but the work of a very few minutes to unlock the safe, replace the butterfly brooch in the jewel case, and re-lock the safe again.
Celia's heart throbbed exultingly as she put the bunch of keys back under the papers where she had found it. Immediately afterwards she hurried from the room, crossed the hall, and went out into the garden, where she joined her brother.
It was nearly dinner time when Sir Jasper returned. He brought no fresh news; but he had seen Dr. Forbes, and a physician from Plymouth had been sent for. All that could be done for the patient was being done.
The old man was evidently terribly upset about Joy's illness. He ate very little dinner, and afterwards retired to the library, where he spent the afternoon alone, thinking of the little girl who lay at the Vicarage, sick unto death. In imagination he could see her seated at the old piano, and could hear the strains of "The Last Rose of Summer "; then pictured her earnest face, full of tender sympathy, as it had been when she had talked to him of his gamekeeper's invalid wife, and asked himself if it was possible she could be a hypocrite and a thief, as he had thought her last night.
"No, no!" he exclaimed. "And yet I must believe the evidence of my own senses," he reflected; "I heard her at the safe, though pretended she had only been shutting window. Yes, my first impression must have been correct."
He rose, took the keys from under the papers in the drawer of his writing-table, where he remembered having left them, locked the safe, and lifted the lid of the jewel case. The next moment he uttered a cry of intense surprise, scarcely believing he saw aright, for the first ornament his eyes rested upon was the butterfly brooch.
"Am I out of my mind?" he thought. "I am sure it was not there last night. Yet it must have been. But how could I possibly have overlooked it? Oh, to think that I should have accused that poor child wrongly! Oh, Joy, poor little Joy!"
His distress of mind was very great, for he always tried to act justly. Whilst he was still gazing at the jewel, there was a knock at the door, and Eric's voice informed him that Miss Pring was in the drawing-room with Celia. Hastily locking the safe, he put the bunch of keys in his pocket, and opened the door to find Eric waiting for him outside.