"I'm afraid so. See, they're calling me. We'll soon know."
Bessie did indeed, soon know what had happened.
"Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "did you go anywhere else this morning when you went for berries?"
"I just walked about the place, Mrs. Chester, and looked around. That's all."
"But you were quite alone?"
"Yes, quite alone. I only saw a few men who were working, cutting the grass, and trimming hedges."
"Oh, I'm sorry! Bessie, over there in the woods there's a place that's fenced off, where General Seeley keeps a lot of pheasants. And some time since last night someone has been in there and frightened the mother birds and taken a lot of the eggs. Some of them were broken—and it was not an animal."
Bessie looked frightened and concerned.
"Oh, what a shame! But, Mrs. Chester, you don't think I did it?"