The Professor waited in the sitting room deserted by the students at that hour, those who were not studying in their rooms being at Vespers. Presently Molly appeared, looking very slender and tall, like a pale flower swaying on its stalk.
The Professor rushed up and seized her hand unceremoniously.
“My dear child!” he cried, “how am I ever going to make my apologies to you for all this trouble of which I have been the unconscious cause?”
“For what——” began Molly, too much astonished to finish her question.
“The ring! The ring! It’s been concealed in the ragged lining of my shabby old overcoat all this time, and that clever detective of dormitories, or whatever she is, ferreted it out just now. Perhaps I should have thought of it myself; but, you see, I hadn’t even heard the ring had been lost. I am afraid you suffered a great deal.”
“I did at first; but after I grew better I never let myself slip back into that state again. I kept believing it would be found. I was so sure of it that I haven’t really been unhappy at all. You see, everybody is so beautifully kind and no one believed——”
“Great heavens!” interrupted the Professor, storming excitedly around the room, “that ungrateful, wicked girl to have made such an accusation—she shall hear from me what she owes to you! I’ll take the ring to her myself later. She is my cousin, and her brother is as near to me as my own brother, but——”
“You aren’t going to tell Prexy?” cried Molly.
“I must. Besides, I nearly gave it away to Miss Steel.”
“Oh, well, if that’s the case, she knows already. She’s a detective, and if you let two words slip, she can easily guess the rest. There’s no keeping anything from her. You may be sure Prexy knows it by this time.”