"Is he telling the truth?" Moriway asked Mrs Kingdon.

"Ye--es, I guess he is; but where are the diamonds? We must have
them--you know--to-day, George," she whispered. And then she
turned and went upstairs, leaving Moriway to do the rest.

"There's only one thing to do, Major," he said to the
proprietor. "Search 'em all and then--"

"Search me? It's an outrage!" cried the housekeeper.

"Search me if ye loike," growled McCarthy, resentfully. "Oi
wasn't there but a minute; the lady herself can tell ye that."

Katie, the chambermaid, flushed painfully, and there were
indignant tears in her eyes, which, I'll tell you in confidence,
made a girl named Nancy uncomfortable.

But the boy Nat; knowing that bell-boys have no rights, said
nothing. But he thought. He thought, Tom Dorgan, a lot of things
and a long way ahead.

The peppery old Major marched us all off to his private office.

Not much, girls, it hadn't come. For suddenly the annunciator
rang out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nat looked at the bell-boy's bench.
It was empty. There was to be a ball that night, and the bells