An expression of malice and triumph, such as I have never seen on the face of any human being, rested on Cynthia’s countenance.
“There is something very mysterious about this,” she remarked, in an eager way. “The thief has entirely spared Winnie and me, and has been obliging enough to take only half of Adelaide’s money. Tib and Milly lose all of theirs, but Tib’s was money for which she had no immediate use. So that she will not feel its loss as much as Winnie or I would have done, and Milly has no real need of money at all—I wonder whether the thief was acquainted with our circumstances; if so he or she was very considerate.”
“I don’t know what you mean about Tib’s not feeling the loss,” Winnie began indignantly, her glance resting not on Cynthia but on Milly. “It will be a cruel disappointment to her if she cannot go to Europe to study, after all.”
“Oh! that’s not to be thought of,” Milly replied, feeling herself addressed. “Of course Tib will go. Something will turn up. The money will be discovered. Perhaps the thief will return it.”
A light flamed up in Winnie’s face. It was the first pleasant look that I had seen there this morning. “It must be so,” she exclaimed eagerly, but very gravely; “let us hope that the person who took that money was actuated by dire necessity; that it was simply borrowed, and that it will be returned.”
“Nonsense,” exclaimed Cynthia impatiently. “I have no such excuses to make for a thief, and I am going right now to report the entire affair to Madame, who will of course put it in the hands of the police——”
“The police!” Winnie cried, in a tone of dismay. “Oh! no, no!”
“Wait,” said Adelaide commandingly; “that is not the way we do things in the Amen Corner. This is something in which we are all interested, and the majority shall rule. Now Winnie, will you please tell us why the police should not take this matter in charge? My explanation is that some thief entered this room last night through the studio door. Probably it was the very individual who was watching us last night through the transom.”
“Oh! Not Professor Waite,” Milly exclaimed, and Winnie started as though about to speak, but restrained the impulse.
“No, not Professor Waite, certainly,” Adelaide continued, “but some one disguised in his hat. This thief waited until we were all asleep, and then began to help himself to the contents of our safe, but was probably interrupted or frightened by some sound, after securing Milly’s and Tib’s money, and hurried away without taking as much as he wished. That is the simplest, most likely solution, and it seems to me that the police are the proper authorities to take the affair in hand.”