o wise for
that."

"He wouldn't _keep_ it there, but he might be looking at it and pitch it
in when I called. He's hardly spoken to me since, and when I asked him
what his flag was at half-mast for, he wouldn't answer. Besides, you
know in the reading this afternoon he didn't listen, and when you asked
what he was thinking about, he colored up and muttered something about
Sanch. I tell you, Celia, it looks bad--very bad," and Thorny shook his
head with a wise air.

"It does, and yet we may be all wrong. Let us wait a little and give
the poor boy a chance to clear himself before we speak. I'd rather lose
my money than suspect him falsely."

"How much was it?"

"Eleven dollars; a one went first, and I supposed I'd miscalculated
somewhere when I took some out; but when I missed a ten, I felt that I
ought not to let it pass."

"Look here, sister, you just put the case into my hands and let me work
it up. I wont say anything to Ben till you give the word; but I'll watch
him, and now my eyes are open, it wont be easy to deceive _me_."

Thorny was evidently pleased with the new play of detective, and
intended to distinguish himself in that line; but when Miss Celia asked
how he meant to begin, he could only respond with a blank expression:
"Don't know! You give me the keys and leave a bill or two in the
drawer, and may be I can find him out somehow."

So the keys were given, and the little dressing-room where the old
secretary stood was closely watched for a day or two. Ben cheered up a
trifle, which looked as if he knew an eye was upon him, but otherwise
he went on as usual, and Miss Celia, feeling a little guilty at even
harboring a suspicion of him, was kind and patient with his moods.

Thorny was very funny in the unnecessary mystery and fuss he made; his
affectation of careless indifference to Ben's movements and his clumsy
attempts to watch every one of them; his dodgings up and down stairs,
ostentatious clanking of keys, and the elaborate traps he set to catch
his thief, such as throwing his ball in at the dressing-room window and
sending Ben up the tree to get it, which he did, thereby proving beyond
a doubt that he alone could have taken the money, Thorny thought.
Another deep discovery was, that the old drawer was so shrunken that
the lock could be pressed down by slipping a knife-blade between the
hasp and socket.

"Now it is as clear as day, and you'd better let me speak," he said,
full of pride as well