"I must be," said Bets, almost in tears. "I can't think why I said it."
"Never mind, Bets," said Fatty comfortingly. "Just because you told him, he won't believe you — so if they are clues, it won't matter. Cheer up!"
"It really is a most extraordinary mystery," said Daisy.
Buster really has got Brains.
"What is the most puzzling thing of all," said Fatty, "is the fact that nearly everything is the same as last time."
"It looks as if all those things had to be like that before the cat could be stolen," said Daisy.
"It's no good suspecting anyone but Luke this time," said Larry. "The cat was there at three o'clock, because both Tupping and Lady Candling saw it; and Luke was by the cat-house from three until Miss Harmer returned, and then she and Tupping go into the cage and find Dark Queen missing."
"And Luke says, as he said last time, that no one went near" the cage except himself, all that time," said Pip. "Well, I simply do not see how Dark Queen could have been stolen."
Everyone was silent. Again it seemed an absolutely mystifying problem with no solution at all — except that Luke was a very stupid and untruthful thief. But not one of the children could believe that.
The children stayed talking until it was Bets' bed-time. Then they said good-bye and got up to go home.