“Yes, my dear, and that is why I have not shared Tib’s anxiety since we knew that it had been confiscated. Don’t you think that dig about Snooks enjoying the scenery of the back yard was rather good?” and Winnie chuckled with enjoyment of her own impertinence. “You should have seen her face when Professor Waite read that. Nebuchadnezzar’s when he ordered Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego to the burning, fiery furnace must have been amiable in comparison. She would have seen me boiled in oil with pleasure. I haven’t enjoyed anything so much for ages.”
CHAPTER VIII.
IN THE MESHES OF A GOLDEN NET.
Of course Adelaide did not feel it necessary to tell Mr. Mudge all the consequences of our Halloween party, but only the facts of our having used the turret staircase on that memorable night.
“And now,” she said, with a laugh, “Mr. Mudge has gone racing off to investigate Professor Waite. I seem doomed to get that poor man into trouble. Though of course he never could be suspected of this robbery.”
Milly had entered while Adelaide was speaking, and she uttered a little cry of dismay. “Professor Waite suspected! that could never be!”
“Circumstances are against him,” Winnie replied. “Mr. Mudge believes that the robbery was committed between twelve o’clock and a quarter past. Now, if Professor Waite was in the studio at that time——”
“He was earlier than usual,” Milly replied. “I heard him come up the staircase. You know the head of our bed is right against the turret wall. Someway, I always hear his step on the stair, and then he usually whistles an air from one of the operas. Last night he whistled the Wedding March in ‘Lohengrin.’”
“Then you were lying awake, too, last night,” Winnie remarked. “Did you hear me moving about in this room?”