"She has not really anything to complain of,"
she said to herself, "and she cannot expect me to speak to her against Aunt Edith and Nelson. She should make the best of it for the time."
As Bee was leaving the schoolroom Mrs. Vincent called her back.
"Will you tell Rosy to bring me her Venetian necklace to the drawing-room?" she said; "I want it for a few minutes." She did not tell Beata why she wanted it. It was because she had had a letter that morning from Mr. Furnivale asking her to tell him how many beads there were on Rosy's necklace and their size, as he had found a shop where there were two or three for sale, and he wanted to get one as nearly as possible the same for Beata.
Beata went slowly to the nursery. She would much rather have stayed in the schoolroom, lonely and dull though it was. When she got to the nursery she gave Rosy her mother's message, and asked her kindly if she might bring her dolls so that they could play with them together.
"I shan't get no work done," said Nelson crossly, "if there's going to be such a litter about."
"I'm going to take my necklace to mamma," said Rosy. "You may play with my doll till I come back, Bee."
She ran off, and Bee sat down quietly as far away from Nelson as she could. Five or ten minutes passed, and then the door suddenly opened and Rosy burst in with a very red face.
"Bee, Nelson," she exclaimed, "my necklace is gone. It is indeed. I've hunted everywhere. And somebody must have taken it, for I always put it in the same place, in its own little box. You know I do—don't I, Bee?"
Bee seemed hardly able to answer. Her face looked quite pale with distress.