“I wish I could,” I cried with all their eyes upon me, for I had had time to think. “Some of you must have heard me say I’d fetch my friend in from the road?”
“Yes, I did,” piped an innocent from within.
“Well, and when I came back with him things were exactly as you see them now. Evidently the man’s strength was too much for the boy’s; but whether he ran upstairs or outside I know no more than you do.”
“It wasn’t like that boy to run either way,” said the crammer, cocking a clear blue eye on me.
“But if he gave chase!”
“It wasn’t like him even to let go.”
“I don’t believe Beefy ever would,” put in Olphert. “That’s why we gave him the billet.”
“He may have followed him through the pantry window,” I suggested wildly.
“But the door’s shut,” put in a boy.
“I’ll have a look at it,” said the crammer.