“Put them back?”
“Yes, Allan, they’re up there all right.”
“Do you mean that you have brought them back?”
“Sure,” Cheney answered fervently.
“Well, let us see,” said Allan. “You go up first;” and he made Cheney go ahead of him up the stairs in the dark—for he had absently blown out his light when he went into the house. Allan struck a match at the top step.
“See! there they are!” and Cheney pointed to the three plates lying on a chair, the first object Cheney had encountered in the dark.
Allan picked up the plates, holding the match in his other hand. The match burned out, and he struck another, and lighted his “white lamp.” Then he looked at the plates, one by one, to see that they were not injured. Convinced that they were not harmed, he turned to Cheney, who stood falteringly and uneasily watching him.
“Well, you can go, Cheney, for all I care.”
Cheney immediately began to recover his self-possession.
“Oh, I was only foolin’, Allan. I was goin’ to bring them back.”