‘The gate is locked,’ says she; ‘how will you get out?’
‘The way I came, miss,’ says the bad man, with open signs of contrition.
‘I see—yes,’ says Susan sadly. ‘But go at once. I trust you—remember.’
‘I’ll never forget it, miss,’ says the unhappy man, sinking down upon the ladder and covering his face with his hands.
‘Jacky,’ says Susan, when they have left the garden and locked the door carefully behind them, ‘if you ever say a word about that poor creature, I’ll never think the same of you again. Do you hear? He is a wretched thief; but I have given my word not to betray him, and you must give your word too. Poor man! I think he was sincerely sorry. You won’t say a word at home or anywhere, Jacky?’
‘No,’ says Jacky. He looks at her. ‘Why couldn’t you have taken the cherries?’ says he.
It takes the entire remainder of the walk home to make the ‘why’ clear to him.
CHAPTER IX.
‘He knew not what to say,
And so he swore!’