To replace them in their hiding-place was easily done, but when, with shaking limbs he had swung himself down from the tree, and was turning to run into the house, the sound of a low cough made him start suddenly and face quickly round again.
CHAPTER IX.
THE MAN IN THE SUMMER-HOUSE.
THERE, to his horror, looking through the gap which had been filled by Claude’s spring window, and framed, as it were, by the jagged points of glass which were still sticking to the framework, was a rough-looking man, with a stubbly beard, and a dirty white muffler twisted loosely round his neck. He had only one eye; at least, if the other were there it was hidden by a greasy green patch which was tied round his head by a piece of old string, while his rough, sandy-coloured hair looked as if it had not been touched by a brush and comb for years.
There, to his horror, looking through the gap, was a rough-lookingman, with a stubbly beard, and a dirty white mufflertwisted loosely round his neck. | |
| V. L. | [Page 92]. |
Clearly this strange-looking individual must have been in the summer-house all the time, and have seen the whole of Vivian’s movements, and the little boy found himself wondering, in spite of his terror, how he had escaped being struck by a pellet or cut by a fragment of broken glass. He would fain have turned and run away, but something in the man’s one visible eye held him rooted to the spot, and he remained stock-still, furtively rubbing one foot against the other, longing, and yet half-dreading, to hear the stranger speak and to discover how much he had seen.
‘A pretty mess you’ve made of it, young gentleman,’ said the man at last with a chuckle; ‘and what will the gentleman as you’re staying with say when he sees all this?’
‘It was a mistake,’ stammered Vivian, at a loss what other answer to make.
‘Ho, ho! a mistake was it, young gentleman? And was it a mistake that you took the pistol out of the hole, and put it back again after the smash, looking as scared as ever was, instead of bringing it boldly out of the house with you, like as you would have done if it had been all square?’