"He has gone," said the vicar dreamily, looking out of the window and wondering whether Robert had reached The Happy Heart. A good runner, he reflected, might perhaps have succeeded, but Mr. Bangs was no longer young.
"Gone!" ejaculated both ladies together, and for once in his life the amiable clergyman had the satisfaction of communicating dramatic and exclusive news.
"Gone!" repeated Mrs. Peters. "Oh, Charles! Where? How?"
"Gone!" said Mrs. Hedderwick, with a rising inflection. "You have helped——"
"How could I detain him?" urged the vicar, retreating behind a chair. "Why blame me? Could I be expected to keep him here by force? If Mr. Hedderwick preferred to depart by the buttery hatch——"
"The buttery hatch."
"Let me show you," said the vicar helpfully, thinking that a reconstruction of the crime might divert a morbid interest in himself. "You see here it is, behind the screen. Mr. Hedderwick opened it, climbed through——"
"I do not believe it! It is too small for——"
"My dear madam," expostulated the vicar warmly, annoyed at having his veracity impugned, "I assure you it was so. Try for yourself!"
In her rage Mrs. Hedderwick raised her arm as if to strike the impious suggester. Mrs. Peters interposed, as the vicar quailed, and the situation was saved.