Chapter VI
I Find an Ally
As I ran around the corner of the house, I saw mother standing at the front door.
“Why, Cecil,” she said, reproachfully, as I sprang up the steps, “where have you been all this time?”
“It isn’t so late, is it, mother?”
“It’s very late, and I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Why, look at your hands!” she cried, as she saw me more clearly. “And your frock! Where have you been, Cecil?”
“I was out in the garden, mother,” I answered, suddenly conscious that my hands were very dirty, and that great green splotches on my skirt showed where I had been kneeling on the moss which covered the rockery.
“In the garden?” she repeated. “What on earth—”
“Looking for the treasure, weren’t you, Biffkins?” called Dick’s voice mockingly from the darkness of the hall.
“Yes, I was,” I snapped. Really it was provoking that Dick should take the matter so lightly.
“Well, better luck next time, Biffkins,” he went on, coming to the door, and looking me up and down with a broad grin. “Why, she’s been digging!” he cried. “I’ll bet anything she’s got a blister!”