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Page 36
Everybody knows how a drawing-room looks when the company has gone.
Music here, drawings there, musical instruments somewhere else, and a
certain amount of confusion not apparent before now apparent
everywhere.
But Mrs. Brier was one of those who never could sit still while
anything had to be done, and she began to arrange the cabinet which
held her curiosities, while Madeleine collected the music. They were
thus employed when Mrs. Brier suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! Madeleine!"
"What is the matter, aunt?" asked the young girl, running to her.
"Nothing, I hope, but I cannot find the miniature portrait or the old
snuff-box which were here."
"Then they must be on one of the tables!" said Madeleine.
"I fear not; I laid everything back in the case myself--at least, I
believe I did--before putting it in the cabinet."
A careful search in every probable and improbable place in the room was
made, but the missing articles could not be found. The Doctor was
hastily called, and inquiries were made of him.
"No, my dear, I have seen nothing of them," he said. "I was busy with
the microscopes, and never even saw the things during the evening. Let
us look about--we shall soon find them."
Search after search was made, but in vain, and there was but one
conclusion at which to arrive,--the miniature and the snuff-box had
been taken away.
[Illustration: "HOWARD PRETENDED TO CLASP THE IMAGE TO HIS BREAST."]
But by whom? It could not have been by the servants, for they had only
entered the room to bring the refreshments. It could not have been by
any of the lady guests, for they had not been near the curiosities;
being old friends, these had often been shown to them before.
It was, perhaps, the most trying hour that either the Doctor or Mrs.
Brier had ever spent. They were not grieved simply because they had
lost property, valuable as it was, but their deepest sorrow arose from
the fear that honor had been lost in the school.
CHAPTER III.
THE LOST MINIATURE.
The morning came, and the anxiety which the Doctor and Mrs. Brier had
felt the night before was not removed but rather increased. What to do
for the best was the question preying upon both minds. There was no
escape from the conviction that one of the boys, either by accident or
with evil intent, had taken the missing articles. If by accident, they
would be returned the first thing in the morning, although there would
be no excuse for not having returned them on the previous evening as
soon as the discovery was made; and if with evil intent who was the
culprit?
The Doctor was one of those men who could best bear anxiety
out-of-doors. If anything unusual troubled him, no matter what the
weather might be, he would pace the garden or wander through the
fields, while he thought or prayed himself out of the difficulty.
He was a God-fearing man. I do not mean in the sense in which many
apply this term, turning a good old phrase into a cant expression. He
believed in God, he believed in the Bible, and he believed in prayer.
So, after he had paced the garden in the early morning, long before any
others of the establishment were abroad, he turned into the
summer-house, and there, quiet and alone, he prayed for guidance in his
difficulty.
When breakfast was over the boys began to away to their several rooms
and occupations, but those who had been at the Doctor's on the
previous evening were told separately that he wished to speak with them
in his library. Each was rather startled on arriving to find others
there, and a vague feeling of discomfort prevailed at first. Mrs. Brier
was present, and this added to the mystery, as she was rarely seen in
the library.
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