After a pause Mat continued:
"When the robber was going over the baggage he came to Mr. Cummins'
valise, and asked, 'Whose is this?' One of the passengers spoke up and
said, 'That belongs to Mr. Cummins.' Then the row began."
"Who is the guilty man?" cried Francis.
Mat looked embarrassed: "It wasn't a man. It was Miss Slocum."
There was a moment of silence. Everybody was shocked, and trying to work
out in his own mind some logical connection between the school-teacher
and the crime.
"That's where you've got us guessing, Mat," said one. "What can a crowd
of bachelors do if you drag a woman into the case?"
"And yet," said another, "what else ought we to expect? A woman's at the
bottom of everything, you know."
"Yes, we would none of us be here in this wicked world except for our
mothers," remarked the doctor sarcastically. "How has Miss Slocum been
acting since the tragedy, Mat? I must confess I can't think ill of that
girl."
"Well, Doctor," replied Mat, "she has acted just as you would expect an
innocent girl to act. She's been all broken up--down sick a good part of
the time. And I don't believe there's a man, woman, or child in Nevada
City who mourns Will Cummins more than she does.
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