At that moment Mr. Prescott came in with a telegram in his hand.
“Have to catch the nine-forty express,” he said. “Can’t get back for three days, anyway. Open those letters, William.”
Out came Billy’s knife, and he opened letters while Mr. Prescott dictated to Miss King.
“Don’t,” said Mr. Prescott, seizing his hat, “let anybody know that I have gone if you can help it. Don’t tell them how long I shall be gone. You and William must look after everything.”
Then off he went, leaving Miss King and Billy looking at each other in dismay.
“Well,” said Miss King, after a moment, “we don’t know where he has gone. So we can’t tell anybody that. And we don’t know when he is coming back.
“It isn’t very likely,” she added, with a reassuring smile, “that anything will happen while he is gone.”
Billy, who had never forgotten about keeping his ears open, thought Miss King said “very” as if she weren’t quite sure about something. So he said:
“I’ll stay in here with you as much as I can.”
“Thank you,” said Miss King, smiling.