They both got up; he strolled across to his window, and saw with dismay that a crowd had gathered below on the broad pavement, waiting for the heroine of the Terriford Mystery to appear.
“Haven’t you got a car?” he asked, surprised.
“I thought of walking home.”
“No need to do that,” he said kindly. “I’ll telephone and ask my daughter to bring our car along. She’ll get you to Bonnie Doon in no time! Meanwhile, will you go into the other room for a minute? I have a private message to give her.”
Slightly surprised, Jean did as he asked her. Then, when he had got through to his house, he said: “Is that you, Kitty?”
“Yes, Father.”
“I want you to run the car along here. Are you listening?”
“Listening hard, Father!”
“Good! Now don’t come through the High Street. You’ve got to make your way somehow into Juniper Alley, to the back of this house. There’s a crowd gathered at the front door waiting for that poor child, Jean Bower, to come out. I want to get her away without any one seeing her. You’ll only have to drive her to Bonnie Doon. It won’t take you long.”
Then he brought his young visitor back to his room.