"That was accidental, I assure you."
"Perhaps our meeting in the woods was accidental, too," and the boy could not help sneering.
"It was all because I took charge of my poor friend Toglet," said Martin, with an anxious look in his face. "That poor, poor fellow has caused me no end of trouble."
"How?"
"Well, I presume I will have to make a clean breast of it. Toglet is more or less insane. His folks do not care to place him in an asylum, and so I offered to take care of him for a while. It was his sudden fit of insanity that caused all of the trouble."
"What made you point your gun at me in the woods?" asked Ralph, who could not help but doubt Martin's story.
"I wanted you to stop so that I might have a chance to explain. I was afraid you would return home and have us arrested."
"After you pushed me over the cliff why didn't you try to find out whether I was dead or alive?"
"Please don't say I pushed you over. It was Toglet, and directly after you disappeared he turned on me and I had all I could do to keep him at bay."
"You don't look as if you had a very tough time with him," remarked Ralph, bluntly.