As she was about turning the key she hesitated, while a feeling of her own meanness stole over her.
“If I didn’t mistrust the girl, I wouldn’t do it,” she apologized to herself. Then she added: “If she is not what she pretends, of course, it is better for us to know it before the girls become contaminated; but if I do not discover anything, why, then it is all right.”
With this bit of doubtful sophistry in her mind, she turned the key and lifted the lid.
The sight which greeted her dazzled her, even as it had Brownie when she had first looked upon those treasures.
There lay the coral cross and the butterfly hair ornament, for which she had been seeking, but she almost lost sight of them while gazing upon those others, of tenfold more value and beauty.
“Now I know she is a thief!” murmured the astonished girl, when she had somewhat recovered from her surprise. “It is not possible,” she added, “that any girl of her age, outside of royalty itself, could ever be the rightful possessor of such magnificence as this. Why, there is a fortune here,” she went on; “and no one need tell me that a girl would choose to work for her daily bread when she has the means of living in luxury in her possession. But no, it is evident that she has stolen them, and does not dare to sell them for fear of detection. Yes, and she must have stolen all those other things marked ‘E. H.’ What a creature we have been harboring! I imagine Wilbur and Mr. Dredmond will not think her quite so charming when they come to know that her dainty hands have been guilty of kleptomania. How exquisite,” she said, bending over them and touching the precious stones with her white fingers. “This diamond necklace is fit for a princess. But what shall I do about them?” she asked, after she had inspected them all. “If she has stolen them, as I do not doubt she has, they certainly ought not to be left in her possession. I will take them to mamma, and ask her what shall be done with them.”
With this decision arrived at, Isabel closed the lid of the casket, remarking its beautiful inlaid cover as she did so; then, removing it from the desk, she shut and locked that, and restored the keys to the trunk where she had found them. Then she sped swiftly to her mother’s boudoir, devoutly hoping that Brownie would not return until she had displayed her treasures to her, made her explanation, and they could decide what was best to be done about the matter.
If the truth had been known, the meddlesome girl had a secret longing to possess the jewels herself.
CHAPTER XV
A TERRIBLE ACCUSATION
Mrs. Coolidge looked up with a frown, as Isabel entered the room.