“I thought he might have sent the groom over with the half-crown; but I fancy he liked trusting me, and thought he might forget to send the groom, as in fact he did.
“He was off before I could get any words out; so home I went, thinking I should like to be his groom, such a pleasant way he had about him. On my way I passed the village shop, where I got the change, which I put safely away in a drawer with my ties and collars. Miss Pringle had not come back, nor did she come till the afternoon. I had my dinner, and saved a bit as usual to give Mag when my day’s work should be over. Then I worked in the garden, and tidied up the bed under the window. When she returned I had a good long job with the pony and carriage; and before it was over I was sent for suddenly into the house. The maid who fetched me was crying.
“In the parlour Miss Pringle was again at her desk, with her bonnet on, looking very tight and stiff indeed; the cook was wiping her eyes with her apron, and on my matting was standing a policeman, who moved me on to the front of Miss Pringle by the window, and then retired to the door.
“‘John,’ she said, very distinctly and slowly, ‘I have missed a sovereign, which I accidentally left on this desk this morning. Do you know anything of it? You have been at work outside. The other servants know nothing of it, and they and their rooms have been searched.’
“I was dreadfully taken aback, but I denied all knowledge.
“‘Policeman, search him,’ said Miss Pringle, shaking her curls sadly.
“The policeman turned my pockets out, but only found a small curtain-ring, with which I had been betrothed to Nelly a day or two before. (She had another like it; we couldn’t wear them on our fingers, so we kept them always in our pockets.)
“‘Cook, take the policeman to search his room,’ said Miss Pringle, with another shake.
“Cook and policeman went down the garden. Miss Pringle locked the door and pocketed the key. ‘I don’t accuse you,’ she said, ‘but I must take precautions.’
“It was now that I first thought of the money in my drawer. I turned hot all over, and felt my head swimming.