“Then they were taken by some one who must have watched you go in and out of your room?”
“Yes.”
“Does Sir Robert know that?”
“Not yet. I only found the keys replaced ten minutes before I came down to dinner.”
“He will be in here within a few minutes now, and we will consult together about laying a trap for the thief.”
Rhoda said nothing. She was confused, her head seemed to be spinning. There was no hint of any accusation in Lady Sarah’s manner, nothing but sympathetic regret for the girl’s own sake in her voice and manner.
But yet Rhoda did not trust her, did not even now really doubt that her first impression was the correct one. She looked at the fire, and turning suddenly, caught an expression in Lady Sarah’s eyes which was not at all benevolent.
And she was completely reinstated in her first opinion. It was Lady Sarah, and no other, who, for what motive she did not yet know, had lain in wait for an opportunity of obtaining the keys, had obtained the possession of the three snuff-boxes, and who had then found means of replacing the keys in the pocket while she knew Rhoda to be downstairs.
“Well, it won’t happen again,” said Rhoda drily. “I am going to give back my keys to Sir Robert this evening, and I will never take charge of them again.”
“He won’t let you give them up.”