“I didn’t tell it before,” she continued, “because I was so ashamed somehow, I couldn’t bear for any one to know it.”
Billie’s heart swelled with indignation.
“The little wretch,” she exclaimed, “you should have gone straight to Miss Gray about it, Mary.”
“I know it, and I am sorry now I didn’t, but I thought she wouldn’t dare do it again, and she hasn’t, but things are disappearing all the time, and I believe she has told it around school that I took the twenty dollars and all the other things. Nobody has said anything, of course, but I can’t help feeling that they are all whispering about me whenever my back is turned.”
“You poor, blessed child,” exclaimed her friend. “And all this time you have been keeping it secret and suffering in silence.”
Mary nodded her head.
“And the worst of it is, Miss Gray suspects me too. But she is not going to say anything until she is sure. I thought of talking to her about it, but it would look as if I had a guilty conscience to complain before I am accused.”
“How dare any one suspect you of stealing,” cried Billie, putting her arms around her friend and kissing her warmly. “Would Miss Gray or any one else be so stupid as to take the word of Fannie Alta before yours?”
“But nobody has said anything that I know of,” groaned poor Mary. “It’s all in the air. That is why I don’t know what to do. Suppose after all I was mistaken and they didn’t suspect me. Suppose I took this money to Miss Gray and suppose she would think that I had taken all the other things and was just returning this because I had lost my nerve and suppose—suppose——”
“But, Mary,” remonstrated Billie, “why suppose anything at all so awful? Why not suppose that Miss Gray will listen to you and believe every word you say. You are perfectly innocent and nothing on earth can make you guilty. Of course Fannie Alta must have left the money in your desk, though where she got so much is a mystery to me.”