My! I was scared! I hadn't expected her back so
soon.
I dropped the dragon's old blue head on the floor and was out of the
window like a shot. There was a cedar-tree reaching up past the
window, and I ran out on one of the limbs and hid myself among its
thick branches. I could see her but she couldn't see me. She walked
all around the room, and looked at the wash-stand and the bureau and
at Dick's tail-feathers scattered among the window-plants and then at
the blue dragon's head, smashed all to bits on the floor. Then she
picked up the locket, lying face downwards on the rug, and began
searching for the other things that had been in the jewel-case. I
suppose it was the carnelian ring and the gold dollar with the hole in
it that she missed. I opened my hand, remembering that I had had them
when I went to hush up that noisy mocking-bird. I must have dropped
them when I jumped from the window into the cedar-tree. While I was
hanging over the limb, peering down to see if I could catch a glimpse
of them on the ground below, the housemaid, Nora, came into the room
in answer to Miss Patricia's ring. A few minutes after, Doctor
Tremont followed.
Nora and the doctor walked around and around the room, looking at
everything, as Miss Patricia had done, and hunting for the things that
were missing, but Miss Patricia sat down in a high-backed chair
against the wall, and cried.
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