"I've bolted him in, and I won't let him out till he promises to be good! I was only just in time to slam the door after the fox bolted out!"
"Great Scott!" I said helplessly.
Miss Sally vanished again into the passage, and the imprisoned hounds continued to express their emotions in the echoing vault of the ice-house. Their master remained mute as the dead, and I trembled.
"Flurry!" I heard Miss Sally say. "Flurry, I—I've locked you in!"
This self-evident piece of information met with no response.
"Shall I tell you why?"
A keener note seemed to indicate that a hound had been kicked.
"I don't care whether you answer me or not, I'm going to tell you!"
There was a pause; apparently telling him was not as simple as had been expected.
"I won't let you out till you promise me something. Ah, Flurry, don't be so cross! What do you say?—— Oh, that's a ridiculous thing to say. You know quite well it's not on his account!"