"No, father. I haven't opened the safe for days. Go on with your story, Doctor." She turned to him expectantly. "I tell you," repeated her father, "that the money is gone. I have been robbed!" "Impossible, Martin!" Dr. Crossett crossed the room to him anxiously. "You saw me put it there yourself! Look!" He pointed to the safe. "But, since you put it there," exclaimed Dr. Crossett, "we have not left the room, excepting to our dinner. It must be there." "It is not!" The Doctor spoke impatiently. "But, Martin, who could rob you? Who, besides ourselves here, knew of the money?" "What money?" inquired Lola. "Surely you do not mean that you had any large sum there?" "Eight hundred and fifty dollars," replied her father bitterly. "This lock has not been tampered with," announced Dr. Crossett. "The safe has been opened by someone who knew the combination. Who knew it?" He turned, facing them all. "You, Lola. Who else?" Lola's eyes met his, quite calmly, then turned and rested upon Maria, and stopped there. One by one the others followed her look, until they were all looking at Maria, who grew uneasy under their gaze. "I knew it, yes!" Maria's voice was trembling. She had done nothing wrong, she was sure of that, but the look in their eyes troubled her. "Miss Lola taught it to me. I didn't want to learn it, but she made me. What are you all lookin' at me that way for? You know I ain't a thief!" "Has any stranger been here while we were at dinner?" inquired Dr. Crossett gravely. "Yes," cried Maria, eagerly. "There was! A woman; a Dago or something." "I saw the woman," said Lola quietly. "She called to see you, father. She was a collector for some Hospital fund. I did not leave the room while she was here." "Miss Lola!" Maria turned to her. "Didn't you go there for something? Didn't you put the money somewhere to keep it safe? Didn't you take it out, meaning to put it back, and forget?" "No, Maria. I did not." "You are all lookin' at me," cried poor Maria, "as if you thought I was a thief! Why don't you search me? Why don't you search my things? What do you all stand there for, doin' nothin', and lookin' at me like that?" "Maria!" Dr. Barnhelm spoke gravely, but very kindly. "We, all of us, are very fond of you. From the first you have been more like a friend to us than like a servant." "Oh, don't I know that? Didn't Miss Lola pick me up out of a tenement, a dirty, ragged, hungry little kid? Ain't you done for me what my own father and mother never did? Don't you see that's the very reason I couldn't rob you? I couldn't! I couldn't!" "I blame myself," said Dr. Barnhelm huskily, "for leaving so large a sum of money where a young girl could be tempted by it."