Here he found a motley group—the stablemen, the laundry-maids and the gardeners—all hunting in the many corners and crannies of the outbuildings for the old woman who had alarmed Anne.
Max spoke sharply to the men.
"Here, what are you about?" said he. "Hunting a poor old woman as if she were a wild animal? Go back to your work. She'll never dare to show her face while you are all about!"
"She's left the well-house, sir, and, we think, she's got into the big barn," explained one of the lads, with the feeling that Mr. Max himself would want to join in the chase when he knew that the game was to hand.
"Well, leave her there," answered Max, promptly. "She'll come out when you've all gone, and I'll send her about her business."
Max saw, as he spoke, that there was a man standing at a little distance just outside the stable-gate, whom he did not recognize. Before he could ask who he was, however, the man had disappeared from view. He remembered what Carrie had said about the presence of a policeman, and he thought the time was come to take the bull by the horns.
So he walked rapidly in the direction of the gate, and addressed the man whom he found there.
"Are you a policeman?" he asked, abruptly.
"Yes, sir," answered the man, touching his hat.
"What is your business here?"