CHAPTER XIV
AT THE TEA ROOM
The girls went to their rooms to tidy up for luncheon, though there was some time before the meal would be announced.
By common consent the door was closed between the rooms, and on one side of it the two D"s faced each other.
"Did you ever see such a perfectly horrid, hateful, contemptible old thing as that Fenn person?" exclaimed Dotty, her voice fairly shaken with wrath. "I can"t see how Mr. Forbes can bear to have him around! He ought to be excommunicated, or whatever they do to terrible people!"
"He IS awful, Dotty, I don"t wonder you gave it to him! But you mustn"t do it. He"s Mr. Forbes" right hand man, and whatever Uncle Jeff tells him to do, he"ll do it. The idea of searching our trunks! I won"t allow them to touch mine, I can tell you that!"
"Oh, Dolly, now don"t be stubborn. Why, for you to refuse to let them look over your things would be the same as saying you had the thing hidden."
"Dorothy Rose! What a thing to say to me!"
"I"m not saying it to you! I mean, I am saying it to you, just to show you what other people would say! You know it, Dolly. You know Fenn would say you had the earring."
"But, Dotty, it must be somewhere."
"Of course, it must be somewhere,--look here, Dollyrinda, you don"t know anything about it, do you? Honest Injun?"
"How you talk, Dot. How should I know anything about it?"
"But do you?"
"Don"t be silly."
"But, DO you?"
"Dotty, I"ll get mad at you, if you just sit there saying, "But do you?" like a talking machine! Are you going to change your dress for luncheon?"
"No, I"m not. These frocks are good enough. But, Dolly, DO you? do you know anything, ANYTHING at all, about the earring?"
Dolly was sitting on the edge of her little white bed. At Dotty"s reiteration of her query, Dolly threw her head down on the pillow and hid her face.
"Do you?" repeated Dotty, her voice now tinged with fear.
Dolly sat upright and looked at her. "Don"t ask me, Dotty," she said, "I can"t tell you."
"Can"t tell me," cried Dotty, in bewilderment, "then who on earth COULD you tell, I"d like to know!"
"I could tell mother! Oh, Dotty, I want to go home!"
"Well, you can"t go home, not till day after to-morrow, anyway. What"s the matter with you, Dolly, why can"t you tell me what you know? How can I find the thing, and clear you from suspicion if you have secrets from me?"
"You can"t, Dotty. Don"t try."
Dolly spoke in a tense, strained way, as if trying to preserve her calm. She sat down at their little dressing-table and began to brush her hair.
A tap came at the door, and in a moment, Bernice came in.
"Let me come in and talk to you girls," she begged. "Alicia is in a temper, and won"t say anything except to snap out something quarrelsome. What are we going to do?"
"I don"t know, Bernie," and Dotty looked as if at her wits" end. "It"s bad enough to put up with that old Fenn"s hateful talk, but now Dolly"s gone queer, and you say Alicia has,--what ARE we to do?"
"Let"s talk it all over with Mrs. Berry at lunch, she"s real sensible and she"s very kind-hearted."
"Yes, she is. And there"s the gong now. Come on, let"s go down. Come on, Dollikins, brace up, and look pretty! Heigho! come on, Alicia!"
Alicia appeared, looking sullen rather than sad, and the quartette went downstairs.
Mrs. Berry listened with interest to their story. Interest that quickly turned to deep concern as the story went on.
"I don"t like it," she said, as the girls paused to hear her comments.
"No carelessness or thoughtlessness could make that valuable earring disappear off the face of the earth! I mean, it couldn"t get LOST, it must have been taken."
"By us?" flared out Alicia.
"Maybe not meaningly, maybe for a joke, maybe unconsciously; but it was carried out of that room by some one, of that I"m certain."
"The idea of thinking we"d do it as a joke!" cried Bernice.
"But you told me about the joke Mr. Forbes played on you about the B.
C. image, why mightn"t one of you have taken this to tease him? Oh, girls, if any of you did,--give it back, I beg of you! Mr. Forbes is a kind man, but a very just one. If you give it back at once, and explain, he will forgive you, fully and freely. But if you delay too long he will lose patience. And, too, you must know he wants to--"
"Wants to what, Mrs. Berry?" asked Dotty, for the lady had stopped speaking very suddenly.
"Never mind. I forgot myself. But Mr. Forbes has a very strong reason for wishing to sift this matter to the bottom. Don"t, girls,--oh, DON"T deceive him!"
"What makes you think we"re deceiving him?" cried Dotty. "That"s the way old Fenn talks! Isn"t he a disagreeable man, Mrs. Berry?"
"Mr. Fenn is peculiar," she admitted, "but it isn"t nice for you to criticise Mr. Forbes" secretary. He is a trusted employee, and of great use in his various capacities."
"But he was very rude to us," complained Alicia. "He was positively insulting to Dolly and me."
"Don"t remember it," counselled Mrs. Berry. "The least you have to do with him the better. Forget anything he may have said, and keep out of his way all you can."
Mr. Forbes" housekeeper was a tactful and peaceable woman, and she well knew the temperament and disposition of the secretary. She herself disliked him exceedingly, but it was part of her diplomacy to avoid open encounter with him. And she deemed it best for the girls to follow her course.
"I think," she said finally, "the best thing for you to do, is to go for a nice motor ride in the park. It is a lovely day, and the ride will do you good and make you feel a heap better. Then on your return, stop at a pretty tearoom, and have some cakes and chocolate, or ices; and while you"re gone, I"ll have a little talk with Mr. Forbes, and, who knows, maybe we might find the earring!"
"You"re going to search our boxes!" cried Alicia. "Well, I won"t submit to such an insult! I shall lock mine before I go out."
"So shall I," declared Dolly. "I think we all ought to. Really, Mrs.
Berry, it"s awful for you to do a thing like that!"
"Mercy me! girls, how you do jump at conclusions! I never said a word about searching your rooms. I had no thought of such a thing! You mustn"t condemn me unheard! You wouldn"t like that, yourselves!"