I just sat there and I didn’t say a word.
My father said, “Well, I believe Mr. Slausen is coming up here with this stranger this morning. I understand he has appealed to the police.”
“Why doesn’t he call out the army?” my sister wanted to know.
I said, “You mean I have to be arrested?” My father just laughed and said, “Why, certainly not. I’m very glad they’re coming——”
“I hope Duke bites them,” Marjorie said. Duke is our Airedale.
“I don’t see that that would do any good,” my father said, kind of smiling. “All Roy will have to do is to deny this, and I’ll do the rest. I just want you to say, Roy, that you didn’t climb out of any window of Mr. Slausen’s shop after dark or at any other time. I want you to face these gentlemen——”
“They’re not gentlemen,” my sister said; “they’re hyenas!”
My father just went on and said, “I want you to tell Mr. Slausen and anybody else who comes here with him that you didn’t do that and that you weren’t near his place. There’s nothing to be afraid of if you tell the truth.”
My sister said, “I hope you’re not going to let those men come in the parlor. Ugh!”
I just sat there, kind of saying parlor, parlor, parlor to myself. I didn’t know what to say. My father looked at me kind of funny.