"Let's go," she whispered, "I'm afeared of the man." The other yielded and began to cross the floor behind the impetuous Maggie.
Sweetwater summoned up his courage.
"One moment," he prayed.

"Will you not tell me, before you go, whether the candlestick I have noticed on the dining-room mantel is not one of a pair ?" "Yes, there were two--_once_," said Helen, resisting Maggie's effort to drag her out through the open door.
"_Once_," smiled Sweetwater; "by which you mean, three days ago." A lowering of her head and a sudden make for the door.
Sweetwater changed his tone to one of simple inquiry.
"And was that where they always stood, the pair of them, one on each end of the dining-room mantel ?" She nodded; involuntarily, perhaps, but decisively.
Sweetwater hid his disappointment.

The room mentioned was a thoroughfare for the whole family.

Any member of it could have taken the candlestick.
"I'm obliged to you," said he; and might have ventured further had she given him the opportunity.

But she was too near the door to resist the temptation of flight.