Witch Winnie's Mystery, or The Old Oak Cabinet Part 4

A light flamed up in Winnie's face. It was the first pleasant look that I had seen there this morning. "It must be so," she exclaimed eagerly, but very gravely; "let us hope that the person who took that money was actuated by dire necessity; that it was simply borrowed, and that it will be returned."

"Nonsense," exclaimed Cynthia impatiently. "I have no such excuses to make for a thief, and I am going right now to report the entire affair to Madame, who will of course put it in the hands of the police----"

"The police!" Winnie cried, in a tone of dismay. "Oh! no, no!"

"Wait," said Adelaide commandingly; "that is not the way we do things in the Amen Corner. This is something in which we are all interested, and the majority shall rule. Now Winnie, will you please tell us why the police should not take this matter in charge? My explanation is that some thief entered this room last night through the studio door.

Probably it was the very individual who was watching us last night through the transom."

"Oh! Not Professor Waite," Milly exclaimed, and Winnie started as though about to speak, but restrained the impulse.

"No, not Professor Waite, certainly," Adelaide continued, "but some one disguised in his hat. This thief waited until we were all asleep, and then began to help himself to the contents of our safe, but was probably interrupted or frightened by some sound, after securing Milly's and Tib's money, and hurried away without taking as much as he wished. That is the simplest, most likely solution, and it seems to me that the police are the proper authorities to take the affair in hand."

She paused for several moments. We all chattered together as fast and as loudly as we could. Then Adelaide rapped on the table with a nutcracker and said:

"I shall now put the question. Those in favor of reporting this matter at once to Madame, please say 'Ay;' those opposed, the contrary sign--but first, any remarks?"

Winnie hesitated. "I do not agree with you that it is a matter in which we are all equally interested," she said slowly. "Tib is the princ.i.p.al loser. Tib should decide what she wishes to do. Adelaide's theory looks plausible, but it may be wrong. Some member of this school may have entered through that door, and taken the money. Whatever is handed over to the police, goes into the papers. We do not want to bring on the school scandal and disgrace, which would follow the publis.h.i.+ng of the fact that one of its pupils is a thief."

"Winnie seems to be very certain that the thief is a pupil," Cynthia remarked sneeringly. "If so, we can trust that Madame will ferret her out without outside a.s.sistance."

"My chief reason, however," continued Winnie, "for waiting a day or two before reporting this thing, is the hope that conscience will lead the unhappy person who has committed the crime to make rest.i.tution. Tib, you certainly look at the matter as I do. You are not vindictive; give the wrong-doer a chance."

"Certainly," I said.

"The question," called Cynthia. "Adelaide, put the question."

"Those in favor of reporting at once to Madame?" said Adelaide.

"Aye," from Cynthia, loud enough for two.

"Aye," more faintly, from Milly.

"Those opposed?"

"No," from Winnie and from me.

"A tie," announced Adelaide. "Then the chair gives the casting vote. I am in favor of reporting to Madame, and I think we had better make the report in a body. There is just time to see her before breakfast."

"I do not see the necessity of our going _en ma.s.se_," Winnie objected.

"Tib, of course, as the individual who has suffered most, and who discovered the loss; Cynthia, who seems to enjoy telling unpleasant things; and Adelaide, who is strictly just, and the oldest and most dignified member of the Amen Corner. But I do not see why you should drag Milly along; the child has had enough excitement already. Let her lie down and rest her little head until the breakfast bell rings. As for me, I'm not going until I'm sent for. Not even a burglary shall make me miss my morning const.i.tutional," and Winnie quickly equipped herself for a walk in the grounds.

"Milly shall do as she pleases," Adelaide said; "there is really no necessity, as you say, for her to go with us."

"I think I would rather go," Milly said hesitatingly.

An expression of keen disappointment swept across Winnie's face.

"Come, Winnie," I said, "you had better be with us; it looks better."

"What do you mean?" she asked hotly.

"Only that the Amen Corner always yields to the wish of the majority, and we are in the habit of standing by one another, even when we do not quite agree."

"Winnie need not trouble herself," Cynthia remarked; "we can get on very well without her. Of course she knows no more about the affair than the rest of us."

The words were innocent enough, but there was something very sarcastic in the way in which they were uttered.

"Evidently you would rather I would not go," Winnie said, as though thinking aloud. "I am sorry to be disobliging, but if that is the case I believe I will."

CHAPTER IV.

TROUBLE IN THE AMEN CORNER.

Doubt, A soul-mist through whose rifts familiar stars Beholding, we misname.

--_Jean Ingelow_

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Milly had been unhappy for days.

And now a great trouble fell upon all of us. It was as though a dense fog of doubt and suspicion had drifted in upon the Amen Corner, separating dear friends, so that we could not recognize each other's faces through its dense folds, and our voices sounded false and far away as we called and groped for one another.

Our interview with Madame was very brief. I simply stated the fact of the disappearance of the money, which the other girls corroborated.

Cynthia began to enlarge on the statement, but Madame stopped her.

"I have not time now to investigate this unhappy affair," she said.

"Indeed, it is something which will probably require the a.s.sistance of a detective. Do not look so alarmed," she added to Milly; "I happen to be acquainted with a gentleman--in fact, he is my lawyer--who has all the qualifications of a very clever detective. I will write, asking him to call, and to take charge of the case. He will keep it all very quiet. I am glad that you have come to me first of all, and I particularly request that you mention the fact of the robbery to no one."

With this she dismissed us, and we went to breakfast a little late, feeling very important in the possession of a mystery. Winnie was the only one whom this mystery did not seem to elate. Cynthia, who sat beside me at table, was overflowing with glee.

"It is better than the most exciting story which Winnie ever told us,"

she whispered to me. "Won't it be fun to follow the unravelling of the crime. Of course the detective will be led off by false clues, and all that sort of thing, and the real thief will suffer all the torture of alternate fear of detection and hope of escape; but the toils will close gradually about the doomed individual. I shall not disclose my suspicions till toward the last. Oh! what fun it will be to watch the development of the drama. I should think, Tib, that you would write it up."

"Your suspicions?" I repeated. "Do you really suspect any one?"

"Why, yes; don't you?"

"No indeed!"

"Then all I've got to say is that you are a lamb. You think every one as innocent as yourself. Because you have the innocence of a lamb, you have a corresponding muttony intelligence."

I was very indignant, but I did not show it. "Whom do you suspect?" I asked.

"That's telling," she replied, "and I said that I would not tell at this stage of the game."