quickly dispelled the illusion.

"Tryon, aren't you almost ready to come down to breakfast? Do hurry,
please. I've something awfully important to consult you about."

His sister's tone told him there was need for haste if he would keep in
her good graces, so he made a hurried toilet and went down, to find his
household in a state of subdued excitement.

"I'm just as worried as I can be," declared his mother. "I want to consult
you, Tryon. I have put such implicit confidence in Norah, and I cannot
bear to accuse her unjustly, but I have missed a number of little things
lately. There was my gold link bag----"

"Mother, you know you said you were sure you left that at the Century
Club."

"Don't interrupt, Cornelia. Of course it is possible I left it at the club
rooms, but I begin to think now I didn't have it with me at all. Then
there is my opal ring. To be sure, it isn't worth a great deal, but one
who will take little things will take large ones."

"What's the matter, Mother? Norah been appropriating property not her
own?"

"I'm very much afraid she has, Tryon. What would you do about it? It is so
unpleasant to charge a person with stealing. It is such a vulgar thing to
steal. Somehow I thought Norah was more refined."

"Why, I suppose there's nothing to do but just charge her with it, is