Mrs. Belknap glanced up at him fearfully. "O Jack!" she cried, "surely you do not—you cannot——"
"How long has she been gone?" demanded her brother, still in that ominously quiet tone. "Tell me quick!"
"Not ten minutes," replied his sister. "But, Jack, dear Jack, listen to me! She—she—wasn't honest; I found——"
A smothered exclamation of wrath and grief, a loud slam of the front door, and the sound of his hurrying feet without reduced Mrs. Belknap to despairing tears.
"Oh! what shall I do?" she asked herself miserably. "I tried to be fair to Jane; I did indeed! I should never have accused her. But what could I think? And if Jack—oh! that would be worst of all! But perhaps he is just sorry for her; he is always being sorry for people. I wish she had taken the money; the sight of it makes me feel like a thief! And I wish—oh, I wish Jimmy would come!"
The little pile of bills and silver, representing the month's wages which she had urged upon poor Jane, seemed to accuse her solemnly. She put it hastily out of sight, glad of her child's insistent demands for attention.
The boy climbed upon her knee and pillowed his head comfortably upon her breast. "Jane cwied, muzzer," he remarked presently.
"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Belknap nervously. "Would you like mother to tell you about the three little pigs?"
"Uh-huh; tell me 'bout 'e' free 'ittle pigs. Jane cwied, muzzer!"