He spoke to the bare doorstep. But it was Eliza, dishevelled, breathless, her hair coming down, her collar crooked, her dress twisted and disordered, who suddenly held out a hand--a hand that they could see; and in the hand, plainly visible in the moonlight, the dark circle of the magic ring.
"'Alf a mo!" said Eliza's gentleman friend next morning. He was waiting for her when she opened the door with pail and hearthstone in her hand. "Sorry you couldn't come out yesterday."
"So'm I." Eliza swept the wet flannel along the top step. "What did you do?"
[Illustration: IT WAS ELIZA, DISHEVELLED, BREATHLESS, HER HAIR COMING DOWN, HER COLLAR CROOKED, HER DRESS TWISTED AND DISORDERED, WHO SUDDENLY HELD OUT A HAND.]
"I 'ad a bit of a headache," said the gentleman friend. "I laid down most of the afternoon. What were you up to?"
"Then it was all a dream," she said, when he was gone; "but it'll be a lesson to me not to meddle with anybody's old ring again in a hurry."
"So they didn't tell 'er about me behaving like I did," said he as he went--"sun, I suppose--like our Army in India. I hope I aint going to be liable to it, that's all!"
JOHNSON was the hero of the hour. It was he who had tracked the burglars, laid his plans, and recovered the lost silver. He had not thrown the stone--public opinion decided that Mabel and her aunt must have been mistaken in supposing that there was a stone at all. But he did not deny the warning letter. It was Gerald who went out after breakfast to buy the newspaper, and who read aloud to the others the two columns of fiction which were the _Liddlesby Observer's_ report of the facts. As he read every mouth opened wider and wider, and when he ceased with "this gifted fellow-townsman with detective instincts which outrival those of Messrs. Lecoq and Holmes, and whose promotion is now assured," there was quite a blank silence.
"Well," said Jimmy, breaking it, "he doesn't stick it on neither, does he?"
"I feel," said Kathleen, "as if it was our fault--as if it was us had told all these whoppers; because if it hadn't been for you they couldn't have, Jerry. How could he say all that?"
"Well," said Gerald, trying to be fair, "you know, after all, the chap had to say something. I'm glad I----" He stopped abruptly.