Strange certainly has a right to know her special tormentor,"
spoke up her host in as natural a voice as his great relief would
allow.

But the cold, half-frozen woman remained without a movement. She
was not deceived by the banter of the moment. She knew that to
all of the others, if not to Peter Strange's odd little daughter,
it was the thief who was being spotted and brought thus
hilariously to light. And her eyes grew hard, and her lips grey,
and she failed to unglove the hands upon which all glances were
concentrated.

"You do not need to see my hands; I confess to taking the
pendant."

"Caroline!"

A heart overcome by shock had thrown up this cry. Miss West eyed
her bosom-friend disdainfully.

"Miss Strange has called it a jest," she coldly commented. "Why
should you suggest anything of a graver character?"

Alicia brought thus to bay, and by one she had trusted most,
stepped quickly forward, and quivering with vague doubts, aghast
before unheard-of possibilities, she tremulously remarked:

"We did not sleep together last night. You had to come into my
room to get my slippers. Why did you do this? What was in your
mind, Caroline?"