That very evening, therefore, when the Vivian girls had gone to their room, feeling very tired and sleepy, and by no means so unhappy as they expected, Fanny first knocked at their door and then boldly entered. Each girl had removed her frock and was wearing a little, rough, gray dressing-gown, and each girl was in the act of brushing out her own very thick hair.
“Brushing-hair time!” exclaimed Fanny in a cheerful tone. “I trust I am not in the way.”
“We were going to bed,” remarked Betty.
“Oh, Betty, what a reproachful tone!” Fanny tried to carry matters off with a light hand. “Surely I, your own cousin, am welcome? Do say I am welcome, dear Betty! and let me bring my brush and comb, and brush my hair in your room.”
“No,” said Betty; “you are not welcome, and we’d all much rather that you brushed your hair in your own room.”
“You certainly are sweetly polite,” said Fanny, with a smile on her face which was not remarkable for sweetness. She looked quite calmly at the girls for a moment. Then she said, “This day, on account of your arrival, rules are off, so to speak, but they begin again to-morrow morning. To-morrow evening, therefore, I cannot come to your bedroom, for it would be breaking rules.”
“Oh, how just awfully jolly!” exclaimed Sylvia.
“Thanks,” said Fanny. She paused again for a minute. Then she added, “But as rules are off, I may as well say that I have come here to-night on purpose. Just before father left, he told me that there was a little sealed packet”—Betty sat plump down on the side of her bed; Sylvia and Hetty caught each others hands—“a little sealed packet,” continued Fanny, “which belonged to poor Miss Vivian—your aunt Frances—and which father was to take charge of for you.”
“No, he wasn’t,” said Betty; “you make a mistake.”
“Nonsense, Betty! Father never makes a mistake. Anyhow, he has Miss Vivian’s letter, which proves the whole thing. Now, the packet cannot be found. Father is quite troubled about it. He says he has not an idea what it contains, but it was left to be placed under his care. He asked you three about it, and you said you knew nothing. He also asked the servants in that ugly little house——”