"It is gone, nevertheless, and I've had my keys safe all the time."
"But why think it is he any more than Randa, or Katy, or me?"
"Because I trust you three as I do myself. I've known the girls for years, and you have no object in taking it since all I have is yours, dear."
"And all mine is yours, of course. But, Celia, how could he do it? He can't pick locks, I know, for we fussed over my desk together, and had to break it after all."
"I never really thought it possible till to-day when you were playing ball and it went in at the upper window, and Ben climbed up the porch after it; you remember you said, 'If it had gone in at the garret gable you couldn't have done that so well;' and he answered, 'Yes, I could, there isn't a spout I can't shin up, or a bit of this roof I haven't been over.'"
"So he did; but there is no spout near the little room window."
"There is a tree, and such an agile boy as Ben could swing in and out easily. Now, Thorny, I hate to think this of him, but it has happened twice, and for his own sake I must stop it. If he is planning to run away, money is a good thing to have. And he may feel that it is his own; for you know he asked me to put his wages in the bank, and I did. He may not like to come to me for that, because he can give no good reason for wanting it. I'm so troubled I really don't know what to do."
She looked troubled, and Thorny put his arms about her as if to keep all worries but his own away from her.
"Don't you fret, Cely, dear; you leave it to me. I'll fix him—ungrateful little scamp!"
"That is not the way to begin. I'm afraid you will make him angry and hurt his feelings, and then we can do nothing."