Mike asked in a small voice: “What happened to Uncle G.?”
Alleyn took his time over this. “He was hurt,” he said. “Somebody went for him. It’s all over now. Nothing of the sort can possibly happen again.”
Mike said: “What was wrong with his eye?”
“It was hurt. People’s eyes bleed rather easily, you know^ Are you a boxer?”
“A bit. I was only wondering—”
“Yes?”
“About the skewer. You see I sort of remembered. After I tried to give the parcel to Uncle G. I went to the dining-room and after I went to the dining-room I went back with Giggle to the landing because Giggle was going away and we went through the hall and I said good-bye to Giggle because he’s rather a friend of mine, and I saw him go downstairs and I leant on the table and — well I was only just mentioning it because I happened to remember — well, anyway, the skewer wasn’t on the table then.”
“Michael,” said Nanny loudly, “don’t make things up.”
“It wasn’t. I put my hands where it would have been.”
There was another silence. Mike sat up and clasped his arms around his knees. “Shall I go back?” he asked. “Back to where I took the parcel to Uncle G.?”