."

When Anne had gone Marilla went about her evening tasks in a very
disturbed state of mind. She was worried about her valuable brooch. What
if Anne had lost it? And how wicked of the child to deny having taken
it, when anybody could see she must have! With such an innocent face,
too!

"I don't know what I wouldn't sooner have had happen," thought Marilla,
as she nervously shelled the peas. "Of course, I don't suppose she meant
to steal it or anything like that. She's just taken it to play with
or help along that imagination of hers. She must have taken it, that's
clear, for there hasn't been a soul in that room since she was in it, by
her own story, until I went up tonight. And the brooch is gone, there's
nothing surer. I suppose she has lost it and is afraid to own up for
fear she'll be punished. It's a dreadful thing to think she tells
falsehoods. It's a far worse thing than her fit of temper. It's a
fearful responsibility to have a child in your house you can't trust.
Slyness and untruthfulness--that's what she has displayed. I declare I
feel worse about that than about the brooch. If she'd only have told the
truth about it I wouldn't mind so much."

Marilla went to her room at intervals all through the evening and
searched for the brooch, without finding it. A bedtime visit to the
east gable produced no result. Anne persisted in denying that she knew
anything about the brooch but Marilla was only the more firmly convinced
that she did.

She told Matthew the story the next morning. Matthew was confounded and
puzzled; he could not so quickly lose faith in Anne but he had to admit
that circumstances were against her.

"You're sure it hasn't fell down behind the bureau?" was the only
suggestion he could offer.

"I've moved the bureau and I've taken out the drawers and I've looked
in every crack and cranny" was Marilla's positive answer. "The brooch
is gone and that child has taken it and lied about it. That's the plain,
ugly truth, Matthew Cuthbert, and we might as well look it in the face."

"Well now, what are you going to do about it?" Matthew asked forlornly,
feeling secretly thankful that Marilla and not he had to deal with the
situation. He felt no desire to put his oar in this time.

"She'll stay in her room until she confesses," said Marilla grimly,
remembering the success of this method in the former case. "Then we'll
see. Perhaps we'll be able to find the brooch if she'll only tell
where she took