Fortunately, the gate was on the opposite side of the garden, and their own house was opposite the gate. The man and the woman would have to run right round the Square.
"We ought to beat them," said Gwendolen's aunt.
Oh, how sorry Gwendolen was then that her tummy was so large! But she ran as fast as ever she could, and almost kept up with her aunt. The man and the woman had started to run too, shouting aloud at the tops of their voices.
"We shan't be safe," said her aunt, "till we've got to the island; because we shall really be thieves till we've taken the monkey home."
They dashed across the grass and through the gate, and, just as they were running up their own front steps, they saw the man and the woman coming into sight round the corner of the railings. They had found a policeman, and he was running with them.
"Luckily the servants are out," said Gwendolen's aunt.
She was quite excited, and her eyes were shining. Gwendolen had never seen her looking so young. As soon as they were safely in the house, she shut the front door and bolted it.
"That'll give us another five minutes," she said. "Run upstairs and get your hat and overcoat."
Gwendolen ran upstairs, panting and puffing, and fetched her hat and overcoat and her doll David. Meanwhile her aunt ran into the study, opened her cash-box, and took out a hundred pounds. A minute later there came a thunder of knocks and two or three peals of the front-door bell.
"We'll get away," said her aunt, "through the back garden."