"No, we won't," said Jan, Jo and Miss Brindley in one voice.
"Then what will you do?"
"We will give you two policemen, or all four if you like. We will pack in here somehow. You can take the other house all to yourself."
"That will not do," said the professor. "If you are all determined to sleep here, I too, will come here. You will need somebody to protect you."
Jo's back went up.
"If you are afraid to sleep in the other house," she said, "you can sleep here with us. But if you are coming here to protect us, we don't require you."
"But you do not understand," said the professor kindly, as if to a child: "there is danger. You will need me to protect you."
"Not in the least," answered Jo. "If you will say that you are afraid, we will offer you our shelter. Otherwise you can have all four policemen at the other house."
The professor was afraid to say that he was afraid, so after stating that we were curious people, he went off with the guards.
With great difficulty we packed in. Cutting and Whatmough were forced to climb on to the shelf and the brazier was pushed out of the room. One by one we rolled up in our rugs, made pillows out of a pair of boots or a cocoa tin, cursed each other for taking up so much space, and at last all were jammed together like sardines. It was like the family in the drawing: If father says turn, we all turn.