Meanwhile, William, asleep in bed, was dreaming of Mr. and Mrs. Croombe, handcuffed, and dressed from head to foot in red triangles.
******
"It's chiefly jewellery that's been taken," announced Mr. Brown from the local paper the next morning at breakfast.
"Ha!" said William sardonically.
"Mrs. Croombe wants us to go to dinner on Saturday," said Mrs. Brown, looking up from a letter.
"Who's Mrs. Croombe?" said Ethel, William's elder sister.
"They're new people, up Green Lane, the end house!"
"Ha!" snorted William.
"What," said William's elder brother, "is the matter with you?"
"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" said William with a disrespectful contortion of his face. "Just!"