Page:Cornelli (IA cornelli00spyr 0).pdf/183

 ing face. She expected a fitting retort, but none came.

“Go ahead, Matthew,” Miss Dorner ordered excitedly. She did not desire a further explanation.

Mr. Hellmut had moved away.

Cornelli now took Esther’s broad hand inside both her own and pressed it hard. A ray of joy flitted over her features, the first after a long, long time. “Oh, I am so glad that you said that, Esther; I am more glad than you can think,” she said eagerly. “If you had not said that, they would have thought all their lives that I had done it and denied it. But how does Mina know who did it?”

“She knows, because she did it herself,” Esther replied.

“Oh, oh! So she did, it with her own feet,” Cornelli exclaimed. “It is better that she has gone then. We’d rather be left alone here, wouldn’t we, Esther, just you and I?”

“Yes, indeed,” said the cook, full of satisfaction. “Just tell your father that I do not mind double work, but that I do mind deceitful ways.”