"I don't believe, just for the moment, I'd tell anyone what happened to that fire plug," he said.
"I won't tell if you won't tell," said Clarence.
Officer Comstock was suspicious. "There's only seven possible explanations. One of the seven Willoughby kids did it. I dunno how. It'd take a bulldozer to do it, and then there'd be something left of the plug. But however they did it, one of them did it."
Officer Comstock had a talent for getting near the truth of dark matters. This is why he was walking a beat out here in the boondocks instead of sitting in a chair downtown.
"Clarissa!" said Officer Comstock in a voice like thunder.
"Resuscitator, resuscitator, anybody wanna resuscitator?" chanted Clarissa.
"Do you know what happened to that fire plug?" asked officer C.
"I have an uncanny suspicion. As yet it is no more than that. When I am better informed I will advise you."
Clarissa was eight years old and much given to uncanny suspicions.
"Clementine, Harold, Corinne, Jimmy, Cyril," he asked the five younger Willoughby children. "Do you know what happened to that fire plug?"