For when we had crept back to the kitchen, and Bella was fumbling

for her handkerchief to cry into and the Harbison man was trying to

apologize for the language he had used to the reporter, and I was on the

verge of a nervous chill--well, it was then that Bella forgot all about

crying and jumped and held out her arm.

"My diamond bracelet!" she screeched. "Look, I've lost it."

Well, we went over every inch of that basement, until I knew every crack

in the flooring, every spot on the cement. And Bella was nasty, and said

that she had never seen that part of the house in such condition, and

that if I had acted like a sane person and put her out, when she had no

business there at all, she would have had her freedom and her bracelet,

and that if we were playing a joke on her (as if we felt like joking!)

we would please give her the bracelet and let her go and die in a

corner; she felt very queer.

At half-past four o'clock we gave up.

"It's gone," I said. "I don't believe you wore it here. No one could

have taken it. There wasn't a soul in this part of the house, except the

policeman and he's locked in."

At five o'clock we put her to sleep in the den. She was in a fearful

temper, and I was glad enough to be able to shut the door on her. Tom

Harbison--that was his name--helped me to creep upstairs, and wanted

to get me a glass of ale to make me sleep. But I said it would be of no

use, as I had to get up and get the breakfast. The last thing he said

was that the policeman seemed above the average in intelligence, and

perhaps we could train him to do plain cooking and dishwashing.

I did not go to sleep at once. I lay on the chintz-covered divan in

Bella's dressing room and stared at the picture of her with the violets

underneath. I couldn't see what there was about Bella to inspire such

undying devotion, but I had to admit that she had looked handsome that

night, and that the Harbison man had certainly been impressed.

At seven o'clock Jimmy Wilson pounded at my door, and I could have

choked him joyfully. I dragged myself to the door and opened it, and

then I heard excited voices. Everybody seemed to be up but Aunt Selina,

and they were all talking at once.

Anne Brown was in the corner of the group, waving her hands, while

Dallas was trying to hook the back of her gown with one hand and hold a

blanket around himself with the other. No one was dressed except Anne,

and she had been up for an hour, looking in shoes and under the corners

of rugs and around the bed clothing for her jeweled collar. When she saw

me she began all over again.




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