"No," she admitted regretfully. Then she cheered up, and added: "But the house was burnt to the ground! Started at two o'clock in the night, and they had ter get outer the winder to save their lives. Not a rag of clothes to their backs. Jest smoking ashes now."
"I must go and see them immediately after breakfast," said Leslie. And, by way of dismissal, she added: "Please bring some hot toast now."
As soon as Mrs. Bussey was out of the room she turned to Burton.
"That is the family whose children threw stones at father yesterday. I'm awfully sorry this happened."
"Yes?"
"Because--oh, you can't imagine how people talk!--some one is sure to say that it happened because they stoned him."
"Oh, how absurd! Who would say that?"
She shook her head with a hopeless gesture. "You don't realize how eager people are to believe evil. It is like the stories of the wolves who devour their companions when they fall. They can't prove anything, but they are all the more ready to talk as though they thought it might be true. But at any rate, they can't claim that he set fire to the Sprigg house since he can't walk. Oh dear, I'm glad he sprained his ankle yesterday!"
"Filial daughter!" said Burton lightly. But his mind was busy with what he had seen in the night. Where had Henry been when he came back from town at two o'clock in the night? It would be fortunate if popular suspicion did indeed fall upon the doctor in this case, since he could more easily prove an alibi than some other members of his family.
"You will see father before you leave, will you not?" asked Leslie, after a moment.