there were no preliminaries and less ceremony about searching dorothy. within the office she was confronted by the superintendent of the store, and then the woman detective explained that a valuable ring had been taken from a tray on the counter, and she had reason to believe dorothy or tavia knew something about the missing article.
tavia could not, or would not, keep her anger within bounds. she simply declared the whole thing an outrage, and promised that dorothy's father would demand satisfaction for the insult.
dorothy almost forgot her own predicament in trying to calm tavia. she assured her it would be all right—was all a mistake, and, after all, what would it matter? when the detective would be satisfied they knew nothing about the ring——
dorothy's little indian bag had been looked into by the superintendent, and now he stood before her with something in his hand.
"is this it?" he asked of the woman detective.
tavia and dorothy stood speechless. he held up to their gaze a handsome ring!
"in my bag!" faltered dorothy.
"if this is your bag," replied the man.
"then some one put it there," declared tavia promptly.
"no doubt of that, miss," said the man significantly. "it did not walk in there."
"i mean some one who tried to get us into trouble. the little woman in black!" she exclaimed suddenly. "i knew she had a motive in following us!"
but this assertion had no effect upon the store people. they were evidently accustomed to persons making ready excuses, and paid no heed to dorothy's appealing eyes, her flaming cheeks, or her general astonishment.
"i never saw that ring before," she managed to say.
"you will have to explain all that to the police," the man declared, while the woman detective was smiling "audibly" at her catch.
"but i tell you it is all a mistake!" dorothy almost shrieked, realizing now she must do or say something to defend herself.
"a woman has been following us all day," added tavia, "and at the jewelry counter she almost pushed me through the case. i am positive she stole the ring, and got scared, or something. then she must have tossed it in dorothy's bag."
"you should go on the force," said the man with a sneer. "you know how to make a case out, all right."
"and you know how to impose on innocent girls," cried tavia, while dorothy begged her to be quiet.
just then another young lady entered the office. she proved to be head clerk from the jewelry counter, and had been sent for by the superintendent.
he questioned her sharply as to the actions of dorothy and tavia while they were in her department. did they appear hurried, or did they seem to crowd others? these and like questions were put to the clerk. dorothy felt by this time that the whole thing was a farce. how could they help crowding? and why would they not appear in a hurry, when there were not half enough clerks to attend to the customers?
miss allen, the head clerk, looked at dorothy keenly. she had that plain face, honest face, fearless in its simplicity, ready to stand up for the truth, whether to praise or denounce.
"this young lady," she said, still with her eyes fixed upon dorothy, "could not possibly have taken the ring. i waited on these girls myself, and noticed they never left their stand at the counter. the tray with that ring in it was at the extreme other end of the case."
dorothy could have hugged her.
"oh, thank you so much!" she stammered. "i was sure some one would know."
"and did you notice the little woman with the pale face——" tavia began, but the superintendent interrupted her.
"that will do, if you please," he ordered. "miss allen, we found the ring in this young lady's bag."
for an instant the clerk looked surprised. then she regained that satisfied look, and seemed to wave her head defiantly.
"an open bag is a handy thing in a crowd," she said.
at this the woman detective flushed up and left her seat at the desk. she approached the young clerk.
"are you in league with these—shoplifters?" she sneered.
"very likely," replied miss allen with provoking coolness. "i can just about afford to lose my place for the sake of an opal ring."
the bitterness of her tone as she said this was as frank as were her eyes when she first looked at dorothy and declared her innocent.
the superintendent bowed his head as if to say: "you are right, miss allen, you cannot afford to risk your reputation in this store, and i am convinced you would do nothing of the sort."
at this the woman detective, quick to see the possible turn in her case, hurried to strengthen her evidence. she picked up the telephone and called for another clerk from the jewelry counter. but her eagerness to fix the blame on dorothy became all the more apparent and did not serve to help her case in the eyes of the superintendent.
tavia showed her impatience—she could see no reason why they should be thus detained unjustly. dorothy had lost her fear now, and appeared satisfied to await developments. miss allen's manner was reassuring.
presently the clerk called for entered.
"miss berg," began the superintendent, interrupting the detective's attempt to put a question, "did you see these young ladies at your counter?"
the clerk glanced from dorothy to tavia. "yes, sir," she replied. "i showed them some rings!"
"rings!" exclaimed dorothy. "we never looked at a ring!"
"there!" sneered the detective triumphantly, "i thought miss berg would know."
miss allen fairly glared at the other clerk.
"you showed them rings?" asked the superintendent. "what kind of rings?"
"why, i had the tray—with the mixed pieces——"
"just a minute," interrupted miss allen. "miss berg, what time did you ask permission to leave the floor?"
"at 10:15," replied the other promptly.
"and the ring was lost, or missed, at 10:20. you were not on the floor when it happened, at all."
"she ought to know her own business," snapped the detective.
"and i ought to know mine," replied miss allen. "i gave miss berg fifteen minutes, and she was not there when that tray was out of the case."
"you should be very careful in a matter of this kind," cautioned the superintendent.
dorothy left her place and stood straight before the big flat-top desk.
"my name is dorothy dale," she began clearly, "and i tell you, honestly, i know nothing about this ring. i never looked at a ring at the counter, and never touched an article except those in the tray with the small pins. i feel you must believe me, but if you are not satisfied you may call up my father, major dale, of the cedars, north birchland. he will give you any security you may demand."
the speech was just like dorothy, unexpected, simple, clear in its avowals, and sharp in its purpose. the superintendent looked pleased and miss allen smiled. miss berg was frightened—she had made a mistake, but the woman detective seemed to know, and she had followed her leading. the detective turned away to hide her disgust.
"well," said the superintendent, "i am satisfied to drop the matter. i believe you, but should i be mistaken in the matter i am willing to let it drop at any rate because of your youth. you may go, young ladies." then he continued to the employes: "be careful not to leave tempting goods under the hands of a christmas throng."
but the detective waited. she had missed a case—perhaps she would lose by it, if not money, some fame as a detective.
"miss dearing," said the superintendent, addressing her, "be very careful to cause no false arrests. it appears in this case you have missed the actual culprit, and followed a line pointed out by the clerks."
"but several of the clerks——"
"mere hearsay," interrupted the gentleman. "now, miss," to dorothy, "i am sorry you have had your morning spoiled, and i hope you can make up the lost time."
his manner said plainly that he, too, had lost valuable time, so, with a hasty word of thanks, dorothy and tavia left the office.
"well, you are the coolest kid," began tavia with a loving little tug at dorothy's arm. "you go to pieces on small things, but seem to glory in a good big scrape. i would simply have hauled off and landed one on that high-up lady's pug nose."
dorothy laughed at tavia's attempt to cover up the experience with her joke. she knew tavia did not really want to use common slang, but understood her way of teasing and jesting under pretense that dorothy would be shocked and give her a "good scolding." but this time dorothy disappointed her—she was too well pleased to get out of "the scrape," and had no intention of checking tavia's suddenly-freed spirits.
"now for steam engines," she declared, "and if anything else happens to prevent us from buying our christmas gifts——"
"we will make trouble ourselves," finished tavia, and then they darted off in the direction of the toy department.
some one jostled them as they neared the arch.
"that woman!" whispered tavia. "i am perfectly sure she took that ring and threw it in your bag."
"hush!" cautioned dorothy. "she can hear you!"
"i intend her to," replied tavia. "i guess she made enough trouble for us."
"but we only think she did," corrected dorothy. "it is just as easy for us to be mistaken as it was for the others."
"if she did not intend some wrong, why in the world is she tagging around after us?" persisted tavia.
"and if she did do wrong i cannot imagine why she would keep after us," objected dorothy. "i am sure if she had anything to do with the ring she would be glad of a chance to get out of the store. dear, i fancy every one is looking at me!" as some one turned at the sound of dorothy's voice. "it must be awful to be tempted and actually do wrong."
"it is," replied tavia, and dorothy wondered how she would know enough about such things to speak as decidedly as she had spoken.
