"Dey ain't no key in de lock, Marster."
Mr. Abercrombie paused as if to consider the matter, and during that pause he and Randall and Turin and Susy's Sam heard a voice saying:
"Look on the little Master's mantelpiece!"
The voice sounded faint and far away, but every word was clear and distinct.
"Where did the voice come from?" asked Mr. Abercrombie.
The negroes shook their heads. They didn't know. It might have come from the air above, or the earth beneath, or from any point of the compass.
"Ask where the key is," said Mr. Abercrombie to Turin. His curiosity was aroused.
Turin cried out: "Heyo, dar! Whar you say de key is?" But no reply came, not even so much as a whisper. The negroes looked at one another, and shook their heads.
When Mr. Abercrombie went back to the house he put on his slippers and crept to Little Crotchet's room. Shading the candle he carried, the father saw that his son was fast asleep.
And on the mantel was the key of the stable.