“Oh … I shouldn’t want to sell them.”

“Of course not. But I was just thinking … they’d be a nice little nest egg.”

“You mean if I fell on hard times.”

“Well, it’s a comfort to have such things.”

I saw that sad, rather faraway look in her eyes. She was looking into a future where a nest egg would be a great comfort to her, I guessed.

I went down to the kitchen to find out whether my father had said he would not be in for dinner that evening. He usually left a message for Mrs. Kirkwell. There was that uneasy atmosphere down there because Hamish was sitting at the table, sleeves rolled up, pulling idly at the hairs on his arms.

I went over to Mrs. Kirkwell who was stirring something in a basin. She noticed the pearls at once.

“My word,” she cried. “They do look fine.”

“Yes. They are mine now. They were my mother’s. I have to wear them because they get dull if they are shut away too long.”

“Do they now?” said Mrs. Kirkwell.

“That’s what my father said.”

“Well, he would know, would he not?”

“I think I have heard it before.”

“Well, they look very nice. They suit you, Miss Davina.”

“The clasp is valuable, too,” I said. “It’s a diamond with little pearls round it.”

“There now.”

“Miss Milne said it would be a nest egg … if ever I was in need.”

Mrs. Kirkwell laughed. “Oh, not you, Miss Davina. But she would think of that, wouldn’t she? Poor wee soul. Governesses … well, I’ve always said I wouldna be one.”

“Has my father said whether he would be in to dinner tonight?”

Before she could answer Hamish looked up and said: “Nay, he’ll nae be in. I know. I’m driving him.”

Mrs. Kirkwell answered as though he had not spoken.

“He left a message that he would not be in.”

And soon after that, I left.

THE NEXT DAY there was consternation. My necklace was missing. I had kept it in its blue case in the drawer of my dressing table and I could not believe it when I discovered that the case was there but not the necklace. Frantically I searched through all the drawers, but they revealed nothing. The necklace had disappeared. It was a mystery because I would not have dreamed of not putting it away in its case.

Everyone was shocked. When a valuable article like the necklace disappeared, said Mrs. Kirkwell, it was not very nice for those close by.

She was right. The necklace had been in my room. Now it was no longer there. Where was it? “Necklaces don’t walk,” said Mrs. Kirkwell. Therefore the inference must be that someone had taken it. Who? No one could feel entirely free from suspicion.

My father had not returned until late that night, driven home by Hamish, and as the household had retired he had not heard of the missing necklace until the next morning.

I don’t suppose I was the only one in the house who had a sleepless night. We had a thief in the house and my suspicions naturally turned to Hamish. If he were capable of that other thing, might he not believe that it was “human nature” to take a necklace from someone who did not need it and give it to someone who did—himself in this case?

But Hamish did not go beyond the kitchen. Since he was discovered in one of the bedrooms with Kitty it had been a tacit agreement that the upper floors were out of bounds to him unless he was summoned there by my father. Of course, there was always a possibility that he had not kept to the rule; but I had never seen him anywhere except in the kitchen since that affair. Yet it was not impossible that he might have crept up to my room and taken the necklace. If he had been caught there I was sure he would have had a ready explanation for his presence.

During the night when I was trying to sleep I went over what had happened since I last put the necklace on and I was sure I had put it back in the case when I last took it off.

My father was naturally horrified. He ordered that my room be thoroughly searched. He fired questions at me. Did I remember taking off the necklace? Did I remember putting it into the case? Who had been in my room since then? Only the maid to clean and Miss Milne, of course. She came to discuss something with me. I forgot what.

He said that everyone should assemble in the library.

“This is a grievous matter,” he said to the company. “A valuable piece of jewellery is missing. Someone in this house knows where it is. I am going to give that person a chance to hand it over now. If this is done, I will consider the matter. But if it is not brought to me this day I shall inform the police. Is everyone here?”

“Where is Ellen?” asked Mrs. Kirkwell.

“I don’t know,” said Bess. “She was giving me a hand with the rooms. I called out to her when we had the order to come to the library.”

“Someone should be sent to tell her,” said Mrs. Kirkwell. “I’ll go myself.”

Mrs. Kirkwell did not have to go for just at that moment Ellen appeared. In her hand she held the pearl necklace.

“Ellen!” cried Mrs. Kirkwell.

“I heard Bess calling that we were to come here,” said Ellen. “But … I was finding this. I couldn’t shut the drawer … it looked untidy … half open. I thought something in the drawer below might have caught up somehow. So I opened the lower drawer. It was a petticoat. I pulled it out and as I did this fell out. Is it the one that’s been lost?”

“In what drawer did you find this?” demanded my father.

“It was in Miss Milne’s room, sir.”

I looked at Lilias. Her face had turned scarlet; and then it was deathly pale. It was as though a voice was clanging in my head. “A nest egg … a nest egg …”

It could not be Lilias.

Everyone was looking at her.

My father said: “Miss Milne, can you explain how the necklace came to be in your drawer?”

“In … my drawer … it couldn’t have been.”

“But Ellen has just told us it was. And here it is. Come, Miss Milne, an explanation is needed.”

“I … I didn’t put it there. I … can’t understand.”

My father was looking at her severely. “It won’t do, Miss Milne, I want an explanation.”

I heard myself say in a high-pitched hysterical voice: “There must be some reason …”

“Of course, there is a reason,” said my father impatiently. “Miss Milne will give it to us. You took the necklace, did you not, Miss Milne? Unfortunately for you, you did not shut the drawer properly so Ellen saw that something was wrong. That was fortunate for us … but not for you.”

I have never seen such horror in any face as I saw in Lilias’ then.

How could you? I thought. I would always have helped you. Why did you take the necklace? And my father knows! My father is the sort of man who will not tolerate any sin—and stealing is a great sin. “Thou shalt not steal.” It is one of the commandments. Think of Kitty. Hamish, of course, was all right, but then he was a good coachman.

I wanted this nightmare to be over. The silence was terrible. It was broken by my father. “I am waiting for an explanation, Miss Milne.”

“I … I do not know how it came to be there. I did not know it was there …”

My father laughed softly but derisively.

“It will not do, Miss Milne. You have been discovered. I could, of course, hand you over to the police.”

She caught her breath. I thought she was going to faint. I had to restrain myself from going to her and putting my arms around her and telling her that whatever she had done she was my friend.

She raised her eyes and looked at me … pleadingly … asking me to believe her. And in that moment I did. I could not believe that Lilias would ever have stolen my necklace even though she so longed to have some bulwark against a needy future … a nest egg. I marvelled that I could ever have doubted her innocence and loathed myself for having done so.

“This is a crime,” went on my father. “All these years you have been in my household and I have been harbouring a thief. It is very distressing to me.”

“I did not,” cried Lilias. “I did not. Someone put it there.”

“Indeed someone put it there,” retorted my father grimly. “You, Miss Milne. You are the daughter of a vicar. You must have had a religious upbringing. That makes the matter so much worse.”

“You are condemning me without question.” Lilias’ eyes flashed. It was the spirit of desperation. Who could have put the necklace in her room? What was the point of it? If someone had taken it, of what use would it be to steal it and give it up … just to accuse Lilias?

“I have asked you for an explanation,” went on my father, “but you have none.”

“I can only say I did not take the necklace.”

“Then explain how it came to be in your room.”

“I can only say that I did not put it there.”

“Miss Milne, as I said, I could prosecute you. You could then give your explanations in a court of law. But because of your family and the fact that you have been in this house for so many years during which time no thefts have been discovered against you, I am taking a lenient view. I will say that you were overcome by a sudden temptation … and you submitted to it. So … I am going to ask you to pack your bags and leave this house at once. Mrs. Kirkwell will accompany you and make sure that you take nothing with you which does not belong to you.”

She looked at him with hatred. “How can you? How can you judge me so unfairly? I will not be treated like a criminal.”

“You would prefer to have your case judged in court?”

She covered her face with her hands, and then, without another word, turned and went out of the room.