Jerry pretended to cough behind his hand.
"But two women alone," continued Mrs. Outcast, "are not apt to be exactly quiet in their minds when burglars are about, so I suggested that we shut up the house as if no one were living here, and to make it seem more natural like, I put two nails in the door, and climbed in by the window."
"Wasn't it a smart trick?" asked Peggy, admiringly.
"The smartest I ever knew," answered Jerry, promptly. "But how was I to get in?"
"Oh, we were listening," said Peggy. "Don't you fear. We thought you would try the door and call, when we would know your voice and let you in."
"Instead of which, you hid, and made us think them burglars had come back sure enough," said Mrs. Outcast.
"And you screamed and whispered, and made me think them burglars were hurting Peggy."
And at this all three laughed until the tears rolled down their cheeks.
Peggy was the first to quiet down. "But tell us, love, what Mr. Morton said?"
And Jerry unfolded all the plan—not without first going out-doors, and looking carefully all around his little cottage to see if any eavesdroppers were in hiding. When he concluded by repeating Mr. Morton's order to go home and stay with his sick wife, both women exclaimed in a breath: