Josie’s room was as neat as a hospital, not a thing out of place. Mrs. Leslie opened the closet where hung the several dresses of the suspiciously good material.
“Just feel of them,” she demanded, and since they were merely hanging in a closet the Major did not deem it too familiar to comply with her request. It was not as though they were on the young woman’s person.
“Yes, very fine quality,” was his verdict, his memory harking back to early days at Burnett & Burnett’s When he stood behind the counter and measured cloths. “And look at the shoes!”
Josie’s one vanity being her feet, she was very particular about her shoes. Feet being one of the many vanities Major Simpson possessed he was a better judge of shoes than materials for dresses. On the floor of the closet was a neat row of shoes all on shoe trees and all highly polished.
“Don’t tell me! A girl standing behind a counter couldn’t afford to wear such shoes as these. Look at the cut! Look at the leather! Every heel as straight as a die and the ties of the finest grosgrain. Her shoes would give her away as masquerading if nothing else would.”
The inquisitive visitor must then have a peep in the bureau drawers. All was neat as a pin. The Major, being an old bachelor and extremely fussy about his personal belongings, could but be impressed by the exquisite order of the youthful criminal’s bureau.
“Such a pity! Such a pity!” he muttered. “But no doubt there is some good in the worst of them. And what is this little book?”
He took from the back of the top drawer Josie’s precious little homemade book filled with her father’s notes.
“Ah,” he said with an air of finality, “Greek! Now tell me, my dear lady, what a salesgirl wants with Greek. It is proof positive. I need look no farther. Of course I had no notion that I would find any of the purloined goods here in her room. Those, no doubt, she has taken to the home of confederates. Now my task will be to find where those persons live and recover the stolen articles and place the criminals behind bars.”
“How terrible! I can’t think of Josie in such surroundings.”