Mr. Carroll does n't know his exact path across the fields , and if he lost it while he was after the cows , it 's a bluer show still . They 've been searching all day , of course . The girls are awfully disappointed . '' A sudden recollection came to me of Ned Brooke 's face as I had seen it the day before at the gate , coupled with the remembrance of seeing him walking down the lane at a quick pace , so unlike his usual shambling gait , while I ran through the lawn . `` How do they know it was lost ? '' I said . `` Perhaps it was stolen before Mr. Carroll went to Netherby . '' `` They think not , '' said Cecil . `` Who would have stolen it ? '' `` Ned Brooke . I saw him hanging around . And you never saw such a look as came over his face when he heard Mr. Carroll say there was five hundred dollars in that pocketbook . '' `` Well , I did suggest to them that Ned might know something about it , for I remembered having seen him go down the lane while I was waiting for you , but they wo n't hear of such a thing . The Brookes are kind of protégés of theirs , you know , and they wo n't believe anything bad of them . If Ned did take it , however , there 's not a shadow of evidence against him . '' `` No , I suppose not , '' I answered thoughtfully , `` but the more I think it over , the more I 'm convinced that he took it . You know , we all went to the back field to look at the Jerseys , and all that time the coat was hanging there in the hall , and not a soul in the house . And it was just after we came back that I saw Ned scuttling down the lane so fast . '' I mentioned my suspicions to the Carrolls a few days afterwards , when I went down with the photographs , and found that they had discovered no trace of the lost pocketbook . But they seemed positively angry when I hinted that Ned Brooke might know more about its whereabouts than anyone else .
They declared that they would as soon think XXXXX suspecting one of themselves as Ned , and altogether they seemed so offended at my suggestion that I held my peace and did n't irritate them by any more suppositions .
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