midday
` Mabel , ' said Mrs. Ellis , as soon as that young lady came in , ` have you had my brooch on to-day ? ' ` No , mamma , ' was the immediate and the only response to the question , the words _ to-day _ forming a loophole to creep out at , so as to avoid explanation , though that was the very time to make one . Accordingly search was again commenced -- as we know , without any result . The midday dinner-hour passed away uncomfortably enough , except for the little folks , whose appetite did not seem to be in the least impaired by surrounding circumstances ; and strange as it may appear , Mrs. Ellis , notwithstanding what the servant had told her respecting Mabel 's wearing the brooch , instead of closely questioning that young lady , permitted her to leave the room with the children , while she herself renewed the fruitless search . Tired out at last , she sat down in the dining-room , to await the coming home of her husband in no very pleasurable state of mind . Of course she must tell him of her loss ; but she well knew how angry he would be , and what a commotion was likely to ensue . However , there was no help for it .