Her maid had gone out a few moments before, had carelessly left it standing open, and was now in the servants’ hall flirting with the butler’s assistant. Involuntarily, Brownie paused and glanced within, and her heart stood still as her eyes almost instantly caught sight of her own little ebony casket standing upon the elegant dressing-case, its tiny key in the lock, with the delicate chain attached. Swift as light, the impulse came upon her to enter and seize it, and bear it away to her own room. She glided quickly and noiselessly forward. There was no one in the corridor, there was no one in the room. She crossed the threshold, and, with a few fleet steps, cleared the space between herself and her treasures. She lifted the lid. All were there, in their glittering beauty. She closed the box again, turned the key in the lock, removed it, and fastened the chain about her neck, concealing it beneath the folds of her dress. The next moment she had the precious casket in her hands, and turned, to find herself face to face with Mrs. Coolidge. CHAPTER XXIX ENTRAPPED “Thief!” hissed the woman, under her breath. “How dare you? Where did you come from?” She had not seen Isabel since her encounter with Brownie, therefore did not know until that moment of her proximity. She had come out of her own room just as Miss Douglas entered Isabel’s, and, seeing the door open, glanced in as Brownie had done. She recognized Miss Douglas in an instant, and comprehended at once her object there. She glided in noiselessly, hoping to come upon her unawares, and wrest the casket from her without much trouble, but the girl turned just in season to confront her. Brownie herself grew pale at this unexpected encounter, but, clutching her recovered property firmly in her hands, she held herself proudly at bay. “You are the thief, madam—you and your daughter,” she said, haughtily. “Liar! Put down that box!” “I shall not, madam!” “Then I will ring and have you arrested. I know not how you happen to be here; I devoutly hoped you would never cross our path again; but fate seems to decree that you turn up as a marplot wherever we go. Will you put that box down, or shall I ring?” and the angry woman grasped the bell-pull vigorously. Brownie never relaxed a muscle, except that the proud lips curled into a scornful smile. “You can ring the bell if you choose, Mrs. Coolidge.” “Have you no fear of the consequences?” her enemy asked, eying her wonderingly, and her lips twitching with wrath. “None!” “But you will have to face this whole household.” “Gather the whole household here, if you will, and have the facts regarding this property brought to light; also the way in which you became possessed of it. Methinks Sir Charles Randal would not be pleased to know that his betrothed wife entered the room of another and purloined such things as these.”