"What has happened?" asked Florry, bewildered. "Where did Tilly find her watch?"
"Just where she put it,—under the big stone there!" replied Emma.
"And I dare say she knew it was there all the time!" added Jenny Fleming. "She just wanted to make a fuss, and was angry at Florry for going above her."
"I didn't, either," said Tilly, bursting into tears. "I really and truly did forget all about it."
"Oh, yes; I dare say!"
"I presume she did, Jenny," said Florry; "for one does forget in that way sometimes. I know last week I hung my cloak in the closet under the stairs instead of in the hall, and I hunted the house over for it! I told mother I thought it had been stolen out of the wardrobe at school, for I could not remember wearing it home; but she said it would turn up; and so it did."
"Anyhow, she had no business to say you stole it!" said Elizabeth.
"You needn't say anything!" exclaimed Jenny. "You were just as bad as she was! I dare say your tortoise-shell knife will come in some such way!"
"Your knife is up in the drawing room table-drawer, Lizzy," said Florry. "I saw it there yesterday. And so the watch was safe all the time? How glad I am! How did you come to think of it, Tilly?"
"I didn't till Emma told me," sobbed Tilly; "it never came into my head once. I am real sorry I said you took it, Florry; I never will accuse anybody again as long as I live. But really and truly, I never remembered one word about wearing it that day. What a dunce I was!"