“No, sir,” said Patsy.
“Well, see here,” said Mr Fanshawe, turning to the stable-man, “a burglar is going to break into the house to-night, and I’m going to catch him.”
Mr Fanshawe made the statement, as we make many statements in this life, little knowing how much it implied, for, as a matter of fact, the thing he was about to catch or lose that night was not so much Paddy Murphy as his future happiness.
How Mr Murphy could possibly be bound up with that blissful condition you will not discover, however, till you have read the last pages of this story.
“Yes, sor,” said Larry, as unmoved as though it were some minor stable matter about which Mr Fanshawe had spoken.
“I want you to help.”
“Yes, sor.”
“You see that rope?”
“Yes, sor.”
“I’m going to screw that pulley on to the beam.”