“Now, don’t act the goat with me, Huey. You have always found me your friend, and if you have made a mess it’s because you would not take my advice. And when I tell you that after breathing the air of North Shore at three in the morning, it is necessary for your health to try Valparaiso, you should understand I mean what I say.”
And, saying no more, the old man moved on, gloomy and thoughtful.
“Both of them mugs! All the world are mugs. I am a fool to try and train any of them,” he said to himself.
When the Professor entered Bertha’s cell after her interview with Soft Sam he found her quite radiant.
“I know all about it now, Pro; or rather, I know how it was done; for Sam will not tell me who it was, though I believe he knows.”
“And how was it done? I am just dying to know!”
“You must wait a little bit yet, Pro. Sam made me swear not to tell a soul till he gave me leave, or he would have told me nothing. So, of course, I must keep my word. But be assured, Professor, my troubles now are nearly over. In a few days at most I go out a free woman. Did I not tell you that Soft Sam was a clever old man?”
“Clever at villainy, it seems, Bertha! All the same, we must be thankful to him.”
CHAPTER XXIX
HOW MASTER HOBBS GOT HIS BALL FROM A NEIGHBOUR’S YARD
When Constable Hobbs had seen his visitors safely out of the house he returned to the room of the crime full of thought.