“I followed him into the country,” said Scoop, “to Mrs. Kelly’s house, and watched him crawl in through a window. Once I got pretty close to him, though not close enough to see his face. He seemed to be about your size, Jerry. Had on knee pants. And that’s all I can tell you about him.”
“I didn’t know,” Peg spoke up, “that Mrs. Kelly had a boy living with her.”
“Neither did I,” said Scoop. “That’s what puzzles and mystifies me. Who is he? And why did he go to the old mill? It wasn’t to see [[93]]the soap man, or the two would have met and talked together.”
Pat! pat! pat!
“The spy!” breathed Tom, listening to the footsteps on the porch.
The doorknob turned. We heard more muffled footsteps. Then silence.
“Go lay down,” Peg told Scoop, “and get some sleep. For you look tired out. We’ll take care of things while you sleep.”
“Just a minute,” said Scoop, feeling in his pockets. He brought out a piece of cloth, handing it to me.
“Did you ever see it before, Jerry?”
I took the piece of cloth and squinted at it.