“Yes, I reckon it is, and it takes money to dress as you do,” said Mrs. Leslie.
“As I do?” laughed Josie. “Why, Mrs. Leslie, I don’t believe there is a girl at Burnett & Burnett’s so simply dressed as I am.”
“Simply but elegantly!” insisted Mrs. Leslie. “I know dress goods when I see it--and shoes--there is nothing simple about your shoes.”
“Well, you are right, my dear lady. I do get good material for my frocks and I do wear good shoes. By the way, what did Major Simpson think of my shoes?”
“Your shoes!” and Mrs. Leslie blushed furiously. “What do you mean, Josie? But I’m not going to lie about it. The Major did go in your room, but he made me feel it was in the cause of the upholding of the law that I should take him there. He did not meddle with anything however--except--”
“Except my little book in the top drawer,” teased Josie.
“Yes--” faltered the much embarrassed hostess, “but how did you know that?”
“I knew it in the first place because the book was not quite in the corner and the back turned in instead of out. But if I had not known it already this would have been proof that someone had been in my drawer.” Josie produced the broken cuff link.
“Oh, my dear, I am so mortified that I let that bigoted old man make such a fool of me,” wailed Mrs. Leslie. “He doesn’t know the first thing about the detective business, either. And I thought he was so clever. You see he is the first one I ever knew and he talked so knowingly. The idea of his leaving a cuff link in the drawer! And to think of his spending all this time tracking down a detective! Anybody could see with half an eye that you are as honest as the day is long. Josie, I am going to do anything you tell me to keep your identity concealed from old Major Simpson. I don’t care if he does belong to one of the most respectable families in our county, with his ancestral home right next to mine--and I don’t care if he did give me a pink parasol when I was a little girl. He is a poor detective and that is what I am interested in.”
“That’s the way to talk,” said Josie, and the girls laughed so merrily that Mrs. Leslie joined in. “But what line of subterfuge are we to decide on? It is really very important to keep the poor man fooled for a few days yet.”