“Now try the combination,” he said to Mrs. Friestone. “Chester and I will turn our backs while you do so.”
“And why will you do that?”
“So that we shall not learn the secret. If anything like this happens again, you cannot say we did it.”
She saw the smile on his face and knew he spoke in jest.
“It may be the lock was broken in some way,” suggested Chester.
But it worked perfectly. The knob was turned forward till the finger pointed to a number, then back and then forward again to another numeral. It moved as smoothly as if the delicate mechanism was oiled.
“Now open it,” she said to the lads, her spirits rallying over her good fortune. They shook their heads and Chester said:
“We might succeed, and that would be suspicious.”
“Whether you noticed the combination or not, you surely did not know what it was a little while ago. I acquit you of having any understanding with the burglars.”
“What’s become of Mike?” asked Nora plaintively, speaking for the first time. “I’m afraid something dreadful has happened to him.”