“You’ll forgive me, won’t you, Miss Steel?”
“I will, indeed, dear,” answered the other, patting Molly’s cheek. “And now, don’t bother about all this business. Get well and strong. Don’t overwork, and I promise to find that ring for you if I have to turn the college upside down to do it.”
Then she gave Molly a warm, motherly squeeze, kissed her on the forehead and took her departure as quietly as she had come.
CHAPTER XXI.
A BACHELOR’S POCKET.
Miss Steel was a very busy woman that afternoon. She was shut up with Judy Kean for half an hour; she visited the livery stable in the village, she paid a call on Dr. McLean and finally she went to see Professor Green.
It is in Professor Green’s study on the Cloisters that we now find her, sitting bolt upright in her chair, alert and bright-eyed. At such times as this, Miss Steel is not unlike a hunting dog on the scent of his quarry.
Professor Green sits at his desk. He looks tired, and his heavy reddish eyebrows are drawn together in a frown. When the inspector came into the room he had pushed a pile of manuscript under some loose papers, but a sheet had slipped off and now lay in plain view. Across it was written in a bold hand:
“Exeunt FAIRIES in disorder, leaving WOOD SPRITE at Left Centre.