"I'll let you know what I have decided in the morning. Be kind to Ben, meantime, or I shall feel as if I had done you harm in letting you watch him."
So it was left for that day, and by the next, Miss Celia had made up her mind to speak to Ben. She was just going down to breakfast when the sound of loud voices made her pause and listen. It came from Ben's room, where the two boys seemed to be disputing about something.
"I hope Thorny has kept his promise," she thought, and hurried through the back entry, fearing a general explosion.
Ben's chamber was at the end, and she could see and hear what was going on before she was near enough to interfere. Ben stood against his closet door looking as fierce and red as a turkey-cock; Thorny sternly confronted him, saying in an excited tone, and with a threatening gesture: "You are hiding something in there, and you can't deny it."
"I don't."
"Better not; I insist on seeing it."
"Well, you wont."
"What have you been stealing now?"
"Didn't steal it,—used to be mine,—I only took it when I wanted it."
"I know what that means. You'd better give it back or I'll make you."