“Hum,” commented Jimsy; “I’m not so sure about that.”
But Peggy put her hand over his mouth and it took Jimsy what seemed an unduly long time to remove it. As for Jess, she stalwartly declared that if it hadn’t been for Peggy there would have been no Golden Butterfly, no five thousand dollar prize, and, as she said, “no nothing.” But to this loyal little Peggy would not assent. In her eyes Roy would always remain the most wonderful brother in the world.
Soon after this Jimsy and Jess took their leave and it was not long before the last light was extinguished in the happy little household and deep silence reigned. About midnight, as nearly as she could judge, Peggy awoke to find the moonlight streaming into her room and upon her face.
“Good gracious, I’ll get moonstruck,” she thought, and throwing on a wrap she went to the window to pull down the shade which had been raised to admit the cool air.
The window commanded a view of the workshop, in which the Golden Butterfly was kept, and Peggy, as she looked out, was astonished to see that the door of the work shop which housed the precious craft was open.
“Goodness!” thought the girl, “how careless of whoever left it that way. The night air will rust the stay-wires and the steel parts of the motor terribly. I guess I had better slip downstairs and close it.”
Partially dressing herself the girl noiselessly tiptoed down the stairs and out into the moonlit night.
For one instant she was startled as she thought she saw a dark form dodge swiftly behind a corner of the workshop as she appeared.
“I must be getting as nervous as poor Roy when the mule frightened him down the well,” she thought to herself as she advanced toward the shed. Reaching it she raised her hand to shut the door when, to her astonishment, she discovered that it had apparently been locked,—at least a broken bit of the padlock dangling from the portal seemed to indicate this.
“Somebody’s filed that through,” was Peggy’s thought. But before she could make any further investigation a pair of hands grasped her from behind, pinioning her arms to her side. At the same instant an old coat was flung over her head and pulled close, stifling her outcries.