he door.

"Quick," says Sadie. "They mustn't see Buddy or you either, Shorty!"

So Buddy was pushed into the closet again, and I dodges behind a tall
dressin'-mirror in the corner. It was a red-eyed girl with lumps in her
throat. She said she was Mrs. Purdy Pell's maid.

"Mrs. Pell's missed some rings," says she, "and we've been havin' words
over it. I told her there was a suspicious-looking young man in the
house that I'd seen comin' out of your rooms awhile ago, and I didn't
know but what you'd missed some things, too, ma'am."

"Ask Mrs. Pell to step over here for a minute," says Sadie.

"What's doing?" says I, after the maid had left.

"I don't know," says Sadie. "I've got to give that jewelry back to the
silly thing first; then we'll see."

So I handed the trinkets over, and it wasn't long before Mrs. Pell shows
up. And say, the minute them two came together the mercury dropped about
thirty degrees. Bein' behind the glass, I couldn't see; but I could
hear, and that was enough.

"Here are your lost rings," says Sadie.

That's her, every tick of the watch. If she was tackled by a
gyasticutus, she'd grab it by the horns.

"Oh!" says Mrs. Pell, gatherin' 'em in; "And how does it happen that you
have them?"

"I'll tell you to-morrow," says Sadie.

"I'd rather not wait that long," says Mrs. Pell. "I prefer to know now."

"You ought to be satisfied to get them back," says Sadie.

"Perhaps," says Mrs. Pell; "but I'm just a little curious to know how
they got away. My maid thinks the person who took them is still in the
house."

"If I listened to all the things my maid says--" begins Sadie.

"There are maids and maids," says Mrs. Pell. "I can trust mine. She saw
the man. More than that, Mrs. Dipworthy, she thinks he is hidden in your
rooms."

"She must have seen my brother," says Sadie, "or Professor McCabe."

"It's quite possible," says Mrs. Pell; "but I shall insist on having the
officers sent for."

"Why," says Sadie, "I might have taken them myself, just as a joke."

"Indeed!" says Mrs. Pell in a polite assault-and-battery tone. "Then
perhaps you will confess as much to the other guests? Will you?"

And that was a facer for Sadie. She'd been keeping a stiff lip up to
this, but she came to the scratch wabbly in her voice. "You wouldn't
want me to do that, would you?" says she.

"In justice to my maid, I must," says Mrs. Pell.

"Well," says Sadie, "if you're mean enough for that, I suppose I--"