Part 6 (2/2)
”I didn't put it there, girls, indeed. I don't know in the least how it got there--”
”But do you know anything about it?” asked Kathy.
”No, I don't. It looks like the one Marcia wore the night of that party, but I thought it was hers, and it may have been.”
”She said nothing about it to you?”
”Not a word. Please believe me, girls.”
”Of course we believe _you_,” said Joan, with an emphasis on the last word.
”Well, at any rate, the necklace is found, and I am very glad. I will have it mended, and take better care of it,” said Kathy gravely. ”I haven't found my ring yet, nor has Rachel's pencil case been discovered.”
”That is what I came about,” said Rosalind, gathering courage. She opened the handkerchief which she had held crumpled in her hand, and showed the two missing articles under discussion, a locket and chain and one or two other small articles. ”I found them in my dresser drawer just now, in a little box. Honestly, I don't know anything about them, or how they got there.”
”How did it happen that you didn't find them before?” asked Rachel, reclaiming her property.
”I haven't cleared out my drawer lately, and the box was at the back, under a pile of handkerchiefs and things. The drawer was in an awful mess, and I was hunting for a collar,” confessed Rosalind with a shame-faced grin, for her untidiness was a proverb. ”I brought it to you as soon as I found it,” she added, and there was truth in her face and voice. The girls believed her.
”But what does it mean?” asked Joan. ”Don't cry, Rosy, we know you didn't take them. You are silly enough sometimes, but you wouldn't steal.”
The others a.s.sented readily. They all knew that, while Rosalind might be led away for a time by folly and vanity, yet her nature was true and sound, and she had a conscience. She knew quite well that she had been led astray by her love of pleasure, and her penitence was sincere.
”I can't understand it a bit,” she began, when the door was opened again--abruptly, and Alison appeared--a pale and dismayed Alison with wide frightened eyes.
”Girls--have you hidden it on purpose, just to frighten me? Please don't tease me, but tell me it is just a joke. I know you only meant to frighten me!”
”Why, Alison, what can you mean? We haven't done a thing,” said Kathy, speaking for them all.
Alison flung herself across the bed, already sufficiently occupied by three substantial girls. Joan caught her and pulled her into her lap.
”Here,” she said, shaking Alison roughly by the shoulder. ”No hysterics, or I'll slap you. Just tell us what is the matter.”
Thus importuned, Alison checked her sobs and raised a tragic face. ”My lamp! I'll never see it again!”
”Nonsense. How could you never see it again? Tell us. Is it broken?”
”It's gone!”
”Gone! Not your beautiful Aladdin lamp, Alison? Why, it _couldn't_ be lost. What do you mean?”
Alison pulled herself together and tried to speak collectedly.
”I've been down in the library all the afternoon, taking notes for my English; I came up to my room a few minutes ago, and as I looked round I missed the lamp. You all know where it always stands, on my table. Well, it wasn't there. And I thought--I hoped--that some of you might have hidden it for a joke. If you didn't, then I don't know what to think.”
”What a ridiculous idea,” said Polly indignantly. ”A fine joke it would be. What do you take us for?”
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