"Poor Lily," said Daisy. "So when you heard every one talking against him, you were very upset and wrote to warn him?"
"Yes," said Lily. "And, you see, if I tell that I was out with him that night, my father will punish me, and maybe Mrs. Minns will send me off, so I'll lose my job. And Horace can't say he was with me because he knows it will be hard for me if he does."
"Where did you go?" asked Fatty.
"I went on my bicycle half-way to Wilmer Green," said Lily. "We met at his sister's there and had tea together, and a bite of supper. We told his sister all about how poor Horace had lost his fob that day, and she said maybe her husband would give him some work till he could find another job."
Fatty remembered that the tramp had seen Horace Peeks in the garden that evening, and he looked sharply at Lily. Could she be telling all the truth?
"Are you sure that Horace didn't come here at all that night?" he said. The others knew why he said it - they too
remembered that the tramp had said he had seen Horace Peeks.
"No, no!" cried Lily, raising her voice in fright. She twisted her handkercMef round and round in her hands, and stared at the children. "Horace wasn't anywhere near here. I tell you, we met at his sister's. You can ask her. She'll tell you."
Larry felt certain that Lily was frightened and was not telling the truth. He decided to be bold.
"Lily," he said, in a very solemn voice, "somebody saw Horace in the garden that evening."