E PART

At half-past eight Eglantine, already bubbling, in spite of the
earliness of the hour, with excited animation, awoke Pollyooly and
pulled up the blind of the bedroom window.

Then she cried:

"'E ees 'ere! Queek! Queek! Coom to ze window! Let 'im see you!"

Pollyooly jumped out of bed and ran to the window. The detective stood
on the lawn regarding the house gloomily. At the sight of her face he
beamed sleepily.

Eglantine laughed and cried:

"Good! Now 'e zinks you are 'ere! But you must eat your breakfast
queek, and be ready to run fast into ze wood when ze lawyer coom!"

Pollyooly bathed and dressed quickly, putting on a dark frock that she
might be less visible in the thickets. Then she came briskly
down-stairs and made an excellent breakfast.

She was just finishing it when Eglantine, on the watch at the window,
cried:

"'Ere is ze lawyer! You must fly! Oh, but queek!"

Pollyooly seized a cap and the packet of sandwiches which lay ready to
hand, and as she put on the cap she saw the lawyer, a middle-aged, but
stout gentleman, conferring with the detective and smiling triumphantly
and rubbing his hands at the news of her presence in the house. She
smiled too--a smile of pleasant anticipation. But then, as the lawyer
walked to the front door, the detective walked briskly to the back, and
she frowned.

"Oh, bothaire! What are we to do?" cried Eglantine.

"Isn't there a window I could get out of?" said Pollyooly quickly.

"But yes! Coom quick!" cried Eglantine, running out of the room.

Pollyooly hurried after her; and there came the loud rat-tat of the
lawyer at the front door. They ran into the drawing-room and Eglantine
opened the window gently. The detective knocked at the back door; the
lawyer knocked again, louder. Pollyooly leaned out of the window,
weighing her chances. She saw that to get to the little gate into the
wood she would have to pass the detective. But on her left, in the
fence of the wood, was a gap which had been filled by a post and rails.
Though it would bring her in sight of the lawyer at the front door,
that seemed the safer way, since he was stouter, and probably less
swift of foot than the detective. She climbed out of the window and
made a dash for it. She reached the fence, went over it like a cat;
and her foot already touched the ground on the other side as the lawyer
saw her, and in his indignation and surprise howled like a skelped
hound.