bout it!

"You can just imagine what an _awful_ position it was for me! I did not
know what to say or what to do. I know that, legally, I had no business
there, and if he were inclined to make a fuss about it, he could have me
arrested. I literally almost went out of my mind at that moment. But I
guess something must have made him feel that I wasn't really a 'lady
burglar' or anything of that sort, for he just said, very kindly, 'If you
are in trouble, perhaps I can help you!'

"I didn't see how he could possibly help me unless he knew the whole
story, and I thought I ought not tell any one _that!_ But unless I did, I
was certainly in a very terrible position. So I suddenly made up my mind
it would have to be done, for something made me feel he was honorable and
trustworthy, and that the secret would be safe with him. What made me
feel all the more sure was that he mentioned that he was staying up the
beach at his father's bungalow, and had happened to be out for a walk and
had seen me there. I know he said it to make me feel easier, and that
everything was all right.

"So I told him as much as I could of the story. And when he had heard it,
he said: 'I happen to know all about opening that door, because I know
the people who own the cottage very well. Perhaps you had better let me
try.' I said I'd be only too glad to, and he had the door unfastened in a
moment. Then he told me to go in and examine the place all I wished to
and he would watch outside. If I needed any help, I could call and he
would come in and do what he could for me.

"Well, I went in and examined the whole place with my electric torch, but
I could not discover a single thing except that one of the bricks in the
fireplace had been partly loosened and a broken knife-blade was in the
corner of the chimney-place. It was the only thing I could see to show
that possibly Geoffrey had been there. I thought the knife-blade looked
like one I had seen him use.

"But as I didn't see a sign of the bronze box, I knew it was useless to
stay any longer, so I came out. Ted fastened the door again, went with me
to the car, which I had left down the road, and offered to give me any
further help he could, at any time. He promised to keep the secret from
every one, and said that he would make an even more thorough search over
Curlew's Nest, if I wished, because he had much better opportunity to do
so. Of course, I agreed to that and went on back to Aunt Sally's.

"T