“If you went from St. Benet’s now, people might be induced to think that you really were guilty.”

“But they think that now.”

“I am quite certain that those students whose friendship is worth retaining think nothing of the sort.”

“Why are you certain?” asked Prissie, turning swiftly round and a sudden ray of sunshine illuminating her whole face.  “Do you think that I am not a thief?”

“I am as certain of that fact as I am of my own identity.”

“Oh!” said the girl with a gasp.  She made a sudden dart forward, and seizing Hammond’s hand, squeezed it passionately between both her own.

“And Miss Oliphant does not think of you as a thief,” continued Hammond.

“I don’t know—­ I can’t say.”

“You have no right to be so unjust to her,” he replied with fervor.

“I don’t care so much for the opinion of the others now,” said Prissie; “you believe in me.”  She walked erect again; her footsteps were light as if she trod on air.  “You are a very good man,” she said.  “I would do anything for you—­ anything.”

Hammond smiled.  Her innocence, her enthusiasm, her childishness were too apparent for him to take her words for more than they were worth.

“Do you know,” he said after a pause, “that I am in a certain measure entitled to help you?  In the first place, Miss Oliphant takes a great interest in you.”

“You are mistaken, she does not—­ not now.”

“I am not mistaken; she takes a great interest in you.  Priscilla, you must have guessed—­ you have guessed—­ what Maggie Oliphant is to me; I should like, therefore, to help her friend.  That is one tie between us, but there is another—­ Mr. Hayes, your parish clergyman——­”

“Oh!” said Prissie, “do you know Mr. Hayes?”

“I not only know him,” replied Hammond, smiling, “but he is my uncle.  I am going to see him this evening.”

“Oh!”

“Of course, I shall tell him nothing of this, but I shall probably talk of you.  Have you a message for him?”

“I can send him no message to-day.”

They had now reached the college gates.  Hammond took Priscilla’s hand.  “Good-by,” he said; “I believe in you and so does Miss Oliphant.  If her money was stolen, the thief was certainly not the most upright, the most sincere girl in the college.  My advice to you, Miss Peel, is to hold your head up bravely, to confront this charge by that sense of absolute innocence which you possess.  In the meanwhile I have not the least doubt that the real thief will be found.  Don’t make a fuss; don’t go about in wild despair—­ have faith in God.”  He pressed her hand and turned away.

Priscilla took her usual place that day at the luncheon table.  The girls who had witnessed her wild behavior in the morning watched her in perplexity and astonishment.  She ate her food with appetite; her face looked serene—­ all the passion and agony had left it.