“All explained satisfactorily,” replied Gloria. “But we can’t cover every detail now. Jane will be dreaming of pirate’s caves and gorgeously dressed ladies. Trix, you should have seen the much maligned Steppy. Why, she’s a real model for the stylish-stout. Splendid clothes, and such a lot of them, rather high colored hair and complexion, but well done, I should say, though I’m no judge of the art. And so far as I could discover, I found little trace of the carping, grating-voiced female the girls all barked about. She did get excited once or twice, when I spoke of Alty; but it seems she has a grudge against the authorities here. Thinks they’re in league with some lawyers to get Jack away from her.” Gloria paused and Trixy expressed her own opinion. It included opposition to that of the other girls.
“I can just imagine how Mrs. Corday feels,” Gloria continued. “She has not had all the opportunities of so called culture, but think what she knows about real business.”
“That’s it, Glory,” remarked Jane. “Books and school houses give you a good start but you’ve got to finish the race yourself. And there’s them that wins who never had much of a start.”
“Of course,” Gloria reasoned, “she may be erratic. Didn’t you notice how her eyes flashed and how she kept fumbling with the beads, Janie?”
“Not overly. If, as she said, she’s been a-lookin’ for that necklace so long and she fell across it heels over head, you might say, no warnin’ nor suspicion, don’t you think she ought to be upset when the beads dropped right off a strange girl’s neck, at her own feet on a deppo floor?”
The girls both agreed with Jane. Then Gloria recalled another “high spot” in the morning’s experience.
“One thing I thought queer,” she said, “was how the clue could have been lost when it was held to be so precious. Mrs. Corday explained it by saying that her husband was taken so suddenly ill he had not time to put the necklace into his lawyer’s hands as he had intended to. She, Mrs. Corday, never saw it, because it was delivered at the grounds by the maker, just when she was obliged to leave and care for her sick husband.”
“But who would receive and sign for such a valuable thing?” asked Trixy.
“Mrs. Corday’s assistant,” she said. “I forget what she called her. Was it Stella, Janie?”
“Yes, I think that was it. I was so interested. My word, Beatrix, it was better than a play to listen to. The way that woman can act, with her face and hands.”