"Wait," said I. "You have been in Deacon Spear's barn."
"Certainly, many times." But the answer, glib as it was, showed shock. I began to gather courage.
"Well," said I, "there is a hiding-place in that barn which I dare declare you have not penetrated."
"Do you think so, madam?"
"A little loft way up under the eaves, which can only be reached by clambering over the rafters. Didn't Deacon Spear tell you there was such a place?"
"No, but——"
"William, then?" I inexorably pursued. "He says he pointed such a spot out to you, and that you pooh-poohed at it as inaccessible and not worth the searching."
"William is a—Madam, I beg your pardon, but William has just wit enough to make trouble."
"But there is such a place there," I urged; "and, what is more, there is some one hidden in it now. I saw him myself."
"You saw him?"