“As I was telling you, you don’t know how unhappy I feel about Nancy. Hannah insists that she took Posy’s necklace—”
“Rats!” called out Polly in a loud tone, “rats!”
“Be quiet, Polly,” said Mrs. Winton.—“I don’t think it right to suspect the child without proof; but I must say that it looks very suspicious, and then, too, when Posy missed the necklace she offered to run back to the barn and look for it; but she felt so badly when Hannah accused her, that I pitied her and didn’t believe she could have taken it.”
“Rats!” called Polly again.
“She doesn’t look like a dishonest child,” said Mr. Winton; “but the poor thing has been so neglected and abused that it wouldn’t be strange if the temptation were too great for her sometimes. We must be on the lookout, for if she is really dishonest this will not be the last of her thefts.”
“The children are very fond of her, and she certainly does seem devoted to them, especially Posy. I must say it makes me very uneasy to think my innocent children may be influenced by her to do something wrong.”
“I don’t believe it,” said Mr. Winton, “I don’t believe she will injure either of them; but I would watch her closely, and if you have reason to suspect her again, investigate the matter thoroughly, for the poor child has never had any care and you may perhaps be the means of saving her.”
“Then Hannah says,” resumed Mrs. Winton, “that she misses a good deal from the stores in the loft over the shed,—sugar and raisins and such things,—and she is sure Nancy takes them.”
“Rats! rats!” screamed Mrs. Polly again, so loudly that Mr. Winton exclaimed,—
“What a nuisance that bird is when she screams so! I wonder if she does see a rat! She sticks to it so persistently I shouldn’t wonder;” and he rose and looked out of the window. There were no signs of rats there, however; the only living creatures he saw were the little sparrows who had a nest under the eaves of the piazza.