hall closet.

In utter darkness he felt around and finally hung the coat on a hook under
another long cloak, then gently released the hanging loop and let the
garment slip softly down in an inconspicuous heap on the floor. He stole
upstairs as guiltily as if he had been a naughty boy stealing sugar. When
he reached his room, he turned up his light, and, pulling out the hat-box,
surveyed it thoughtfully. This was a problem which he had not yet been
able to solve. How should he dispose of the hat so that it would be
discovered in such a way as to cast no further suspicion upon the maid?
How would it do to place the hat in the hall-closet, back among the coats?
No, it might excite suspicion to find them together. Could he put it in
his own closet and profess to have found it there? No, for that might lead
to unpleasant questioning, and perhaps involve the servants again. If he
could only put it back where he had found it! But Cornelia, of course,
would know it had not been there in her room all this week. It would be
better to wait until the coast was clear and hide it in Cornelia's closet,
where it might have been put by mistake and forgotten. It was going to be
hard to explain, but that was the best plan he could evolve.

He took the hat out and held it on his hand, looking at it from different
angles and trying to remember just how the girl had looked out at him from
under its drooping plumes. Then with a sigh he laid it carefully in its
box again and went to bed.

The morning brought clearer thought, and when the summons to breakfast
pealed through the hall he took the box boldly in his hand and descended
to the dining-room, where he presented the hat to his astonished sister.

"I am afraid I am the criminal, Cornelia," he said in his pleasantest
manner. "I'm sorry I can't explain just how this thing got on my
closet-shelf. I must have put it there myself through some unaccountable
mix-up. It's too bad I couldn't have found it before and so saved you a
lot of worry. But you are one hat the richer for it, for I paid the bill
yesterday. Please accept it with my compliments."

Cornelia exclaimed with delight over the recovered hat.

"But how in the world could it have got into your closet, Tryon? It was
impossible. I left it my room, I know I did, for I spoke to Norah about it
before I left. How do you account for it?"

"Oh, I don't attempt to account for it," he said, with a gay wave of his
hand. "I've been so take