"Who could have done it?" murmured Jack.
"That's just it," answered Forbes, "we must find that out of course, it was hidden away on purpose."
"Could Dodie have broken it herself?" suggested Jack.
"Dodie! Of course not, why you saw yourself how scared she was at the sight of it. I suppose Jack—" Forbes hesitated and looked down at his little brother, who turned again very red.
"Jack," said Geoffrey gravely, "you know something about it, did you do it?"
"I? No! of course not, I don't know anything about it," stammered Jack.
"I wouldn't tell a lie if I were you," said Geoff, "it's very mean to tell a lie."
"It isn't a lie," said Jack angrily, "I tell you I don't know who did it."
"I do," retorted Forbes, "so there's an end of it," and he was just about to leave the room when he felt a sharp kick on his ancle, and turned round to see Jack's face crimson with rage and his small hands clenched.
"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Forbes coolly, and being a much stronger boy than Jack, had him down on the ground in a moment of time, and held him there saying, "I shan't let you go till you've confessed that you're a wicked little liar."