“Then you came to Clover Cottage?” suggested Cora, smiling at the two girls.
“Yes, we came here the first night. After that we got work in the motion picture show.”
“And was it your nose I almost burned off?” asked Ed. “I beg—your—pardon,” and he made a courtly bow to Nellie.
“Yes. That was a great trick,” said Rose. “We almost killed ourselves trying to hide that night. We managed to walk right past you, though, without your knowing us.”
“And were you the ‘carrier pigeon?’” asked Belle. “It was you, of course, who came up in the automobile, played ghost, and hung the note on the lamp?”
“Oh, yes. The manager of the show wanted us to stay on, and we felt so dreadful that Nellie told him something about our trouble. Then he said he would drive us out to the cottage if we wanted to leave a message. He wrote the note for us, and Nellie crept in and hung it where she said you would be sure to see it.”
“We saw it, all right,” commented Jack, smiling broadly.
“And so they thought we took the old earrings,” spoke up Rose indignantly.
“Well, it did look bad,” said the detective, “since you had thrown the case away.”
“As if we would steal!” snapped Nellie, her pretty eyes flashing.