Mr. Graham was not in Seaton when the incident occurred. He had just risen from a rather serious attack of pneumonia and by the doctor’s order was spending several weeks in the South, in hope of more speedy convalescence. Meantime, as Professor Anthony was spending his sabbatical year abroad, Mr. Moore, the teacher of German, an elderly man of strongly pedagogic stamp, acted by virtue of seniority as chairman of the Faculty and took the Principal’s office hours.

The safe stood in the registrar’s little office in the basement of Sibley. It was an old affair which, before the vault had been put into the school office, had held the more important books and papers belonging to the school. Latterly it had served as a kind of overflow strong box for the less valuable papers, or smaller sums of money which came in after the big safe was closed or the day’s deposit had been made at the bank. Miss Devon also kept in it her official record books, and the smaller amounts of money for the payment of wages and other minor bills which were under her charge.

On Saturday at six Miss Devon had locked up ninety dollars in cash and a check on a Boston bank for fifty dollars. On Sunday afternoon she went to the safe for a personal paper which she had enclosed with the school property. The safe was locked as usual and apparently in the state in which she had left it the night before, but the money and the check were missing.

Startled at her carelessness, for she felt that she must have mislaid the money, Miss Devon searched the compartments and drawers. The money was not to be found. She locked the safe door and opened it again. The lock was uninjured, the safe showed no evidence of having been tampered with. Trembling with anxiety, the girl glanced about the room. There were two doors leading into the office, one from outside by which she had entered, the other a rarely used door with an ordinary lock, opening directly into the passage that led past the store-rooms and the lavatories to the main entry of the dormitory. Neither door showed anything unusual in its appearance. She looked at the windows and her heart set up a violent throbbing. The shades were not in their usual position, and the fastening on one sash was open. While sure as to the unwonted height of the shades, she could not recall that she had altered them before leaving Saturday night, or that she had given any especial attention to the window fastenings. It was her habit to make everything secure before she left the office, but the labor involved in this had long since become mechanical, and she had absolutely no recollection of anything in connection with closing up on the day before.

Now thoroughly frightened the girl sat down and confusedly wondered what was to be done. The money was gone, no one except herself knew the combination of the safe, no one else was responsible for the security of the office. If she could only recall definitely that she had locked the window! She must have done it, for it was her regular custom; and yet she had left rather early the night before to catch a car, and it was possible, just possible, that she had overlooked it. If this was the case, she had really been negligent.

Her glance fell on the safe and brought a comforting thought. She rose and wiped her eyes. “It’s dreadful, but I am not at fault,” she said to herself, resolutely, “and I won’t worry. A man who could open the safe so easily would get in anyway, whether the window were locked or not. I’ll just report the matter to Mr. Moore and let him take the responsibility.”

Miss Devon let herself out and went in search of Mr. Moore. Half an hour later both were in the office,—Miss Devon collected and careful of her words, Mr. Moore looking very solemn and important and asking many questions. Together they went through the safe again, examined the windows and the outside door and with the aid of the housekeeper’s key unlocked the door into the passage, and scrutinized it carefully. It had shrunk somewhat, leaving a crack at the edge, but the lock was unharmed and the jamb unscarred. All in all, besides weariness and many useless questions, the investigation yielded only two tangible results, neither of which seemed to impress Mr. Moore as of any special value: one, the discovery of a drop of candle-grease on the floor before the safe, which Miss Devon pointed out triumphantly as a proof that the robbery had been committed during the night by the light of a candle; and the other, the fact that some one had been present on Saturday morning while Miss Devon was kneeling before the safe struggling with the rebellious combination lock. As the door finally swung open, the girl had observed one of the boys standing behind her, apparently taking a deep interest in her work. It was a junior named Eddy.

At this statement Mr. Moore’s face took on a superior smile. “How fortunate that it was Eddy, and not some other boy!” he said. “I gave him permission to leave by the eleven o’clock train on Saturday to spend Sunday with his cousins in Boston. His alibi is easily proved. Had it not been for this circumstance, he might have been subjected to a very unjust suspicion. I should be very loath to believe that any student had a hand in this.”

“Mightn’t Eddy have seen the combination and told some one else of it?” suggested Miss Devon, modestly.

“I think not,” replied Mr. Moore, with an air of finality, but yet condescending to explain himself. “If he saw anything,—and he probably saw no more than that you were having difficulty in opening the door,—you may be assured that he forgot it immediately. The prospect of going to Boston would exclude almost anything else from his mind. He was in my recitation at ten o’clock, and a more absent-minded pupil I never had. I will question him, however, on his return, and make sure of the fact. I should rather be of the opinion that we have here the work of some clever professional who has found an unusually good opportunity to ply his trade with safety and profit.”

“We have never had burglars in town,” murmured Miss Devon, not wholly convinced. “I don’t see why this little safe should attract their notice. Shall you put the matter in the hands of the police?”

Mr. Moore hesitated. “That will require consideration,” he answered. “We may consult the police, but I doubt if we should be willing to incur the notoriety of a public investigation for so small a sum. The thief, I am afraid, is secure in his plunder. At present we had better say nothing about the matter.”

They separated at the door and went their respective ways, Mr. Moore calm in exterior but much worried within, Miss Devon in a condition of woe closely bordering on hysterics. Under the teacher’s smooth, long words she had divined an undefined suspicion that she might be making much of unimportant incidents to cover some carelessness of her own. The discovery came upon her with a shock. If Mr. Moore could harbor such a doubt, what might not other people think and say when the story came out,—the merciless, insatiate gossips of the small town? With all her heart she longed for Mr. Graham’s speedy return.