"See how he has smashed those daffodils," said Lewes. "What an infernally cheeky little brute he is!"
"What interests me is the logic of the child," returned Challis. "I would venture to guess that he wasted no time in trying to attract attention. The door was closed, so he just got out of the window. I rather admire the spirit; there is something Napoleonic about him. Don't you think so?"
Lewes shrugged his shoulders. Heathcote's expression was quite non-committal.
"You'd better send Jessop up to Pym, Heathcote," said Challis. "Let him find out whether the child is safe at home."
Jessop reported an hour afterwards that Master Stott had arrived home quite safely, and Mrs. Stott was much obliged.
V
Altogether the Wonder spent five days, or about forty hours, on his study of the dictionary, and in the evening of his last day's work he left again by the open window. Challis, however, had been keeping him under fairly close observation, and knew that the preliminary task was finished.
"What can I give that child to read to-day?" he asked at breakfast next morning.
"I should reverse the arrangement; let him sit on the Dictionary and read the Encyclopædia." Lewes always approached the subject of the Wonder with a certain supercilious contempt.
"You are not convinced yet that he isn't humbugging?"