“Dig, if you must,” Penny said, “but spare Pat’s flower beds. I—” She stopped suddenly, her finger to her lips. “Sh-h.” She touched Phil’s arm lightly and pointed to the window, whispering, “Someone’s out there and I’m afraid he’s heard every word we said.”
They all stared silently out through the vine-covered lattice that partially screened the court from view. The moon was shining brightly, and then from the shrubbery a shadow moved and melted into a little clump of low spruces. In another second they saw the figure of a man slip around the corner of the wing to disappear again in the shadows of another trellis.
It was a warm evening, and all of the doors and windows were wide open. The man might try to get into the house. Penny started to rise.
But Phil, with his hand on her arm, shook his head and whispered: “All of you stay right here. I don’t want him to know that we’ve seen him.” Swiftly he tiptoed across the room to take his pistol from the cabinet.
Penny remembered with relief that Phil always kept his gun loaded. Just then she saw Mal run into the court. He had obviously seen the prowler from the kitchen window. Before Penny could shout a warning, the man darted from the shadows and flung himself on Mal’s back, one arm around his throat.
At almost the same moment Phil leaped through the window and fired his gun into the air. As the shot rang out, Penny closed her eyes. Opening them immediately, she saw Phil running out of the court, with Mal close at his heels, in pursuit of the prowler. Jimmy was just about to jump through the window to join in the chase, but Penny held him back.
“Stay here with us, Jimmy,” she said. “Phil and Mal can cope with that eavesdropper.”
Marjorie, who had for once been speechless, found her voice then. “Oh, yes, Jimmy,” she begged. “Stay here with us. He might come back, and we haven’t got a gun.”
Jimmy looked disappointed, but he knew he could help Phil best by staying with the girls. “Ah, that guy isn’t going to come back,” he said. He stared gloomily out of the window as Pat ran across the court to join the others.