"My writing-case!" Mary cried, "my purse, too, in my box. And in the case--my jewels. Connie, Connie, what will become of us?" CHAPTER XL. IN PERIL Connie was the first to recover herself. She knew far better than Mary how great the danger was, how great the need for coolness and judgment. And she had been in dire straits like this before. She held the flaring match above her head and looked round the deserted room. On the mantelpiece stood a fragment of candle stuck in the neck of a bottle, and this Connie proceeded to light. "Now we can go over the house and see if they have placed our belongings anywhere," she said cheerfully. "I have been in one or two strange predicaments, but never anything quite so bad as this. Still, I am sure that Mrs. Speed is an honest woman. It is more than likely that she has placed our goods and chattels somewhere." But though the house was searched from top to bottom, nothing could be found. Mary did not give way, though she was tired out and weary, and sinking for the need of food. She had not yet lost her robust country appetite; she had not brought herself down to exist on weak tea and bread and butter, as Connie did. "It is downright cruel," she cried. "That woman knew that we should come back, that you are in the habit of entering the house with a latch key. And to go off with all our wardrobe like this; to take everything. What are we to do?" "It must have been some terrible mistake," Connie said. As usual, she seemed loth to judge anybody harshly. "The poor woman could not pay her rent. No doubt the landlord had threatened to come in tomorrow and take everything. And Mrs. Speed has a young family. She probably went to the agent and asked for time----" "Oh, I know she did," Mary cried, recollection suddenly coming back to her. "As it happens, I overheard the conversation. There was some man here, a man I know something about, though we need not go into that. And Mrs. Speed seemed to be terribly short of money. I heard her say what was going to happen. Oh, Connie, my head is so confused that I cannot think, I shall wake up presently and find myself at the dear old dower house again. I did not dream that there were things like this in the world; I did not think it possible."