CHAPTER XI.
A FALSE SCENT.
I think the visit of Mr. Mudge was much dreaded by all of us, even though we longed to have the mystery cleared up. I know that Winnie, at least, trembled for the result, and she turned quite pale the next morning when she received a message from Madame to meet Mr. Mudge in her office. It was only a few moments before she returned.
“Mr. Mudge wishes to see us all,” she said. “Where are the other girls? He’s coming to this room in five minutes.”
“Milly is in the studio, Adelaide in the music-room. Cynthia, I don’t know where.”
“Please summon Adelaide and Milly, I will wait for you here—I feel almost faint.”
“What is the matter, Winnie?” I asked anxiously.
“Mr. Mudge says that he now knows to a certainty who the thief is, and that he will announce the name to us this morning. I am afraid, Tib, that he suspects Milly. He put me on oath this morning and made me confess something which I did not mean he should know.”
“Never mind, Winnie,” I replied, as reassuringly as I could, “we both know that Milly is perfectly innocent, and, as Madame said, the truth will come out at last.”
Winnie shaded her face with her hands but did not reply. I brought Adelaide and Milly to the Corner, and chancing to find Cynthia, summoned her also. Mr. Mudge was in the little study parlor when I returned. He greeted me cheerfully as he stood by the cabinet polishing his glasses with a large silk handkerchief. Then he stepped across the room and examined the door leading into the studio.
“So,” he said. “You have had a little bolt put on this door. It is an old proverb that people always lock the stable after the horse has been stolen. But it is just as well, just as well. I agree with you that the thief came from that quarter, and having been so successful he may come again.”