The four girls returned to the Hall, entered cautiously by the rear way, and went directly to the servants’ quarters, where they found Maria Tatgood’s room without difficulty.
Billie tried the door and found it unlocked. Feeling like the most desperate of conspirators, she opened the door and slipped inside, motioning to Vi to follow her.
“We’ll have to be quick,” she whispered. “Maria may come back at any time.”
The room contained a bed, a dresser, a washstand, two chairs and a trunk.
“You take the dresser,” Billie directed. “I’ll attend to the trunk.”
The trunk was opened, but on lifting the lid, Billie found it almost empty. A brief search served to assure her that nothing was there.
Vi had a little luck with the dresser. She unearthed fifteen dollars in bills, but at sight of them Billie shook her head in disappointment.
“No good, if we don’t find more than that,” she said.
At the moment there came a soft, insistent scratching at the door, the agreed-upon signal that trouble was brewing.
Billie slammed down the trunk lid. Vi shoved things into the dresser drawer. Outside the room they found Laura and Edina in an agony of impatience.