"You say we haven't any evidence. I'm going to get it. There is no one in High Ridge but Henry Underwood who would do such a trick, and I am going to prove it against him. We've stood this just long enough."
Burton made no answer. He was now chiefly anxious to hurry Leslie from an unpleasant scene. But again they were interrupted. Mr. Hadley came puffing after them, with every sign of anxiety in his face.
"Say, Miss Leslie," he began breathlessly, "I didn't mean what I said about not being safe in our beds. You won't mention that to your father, will you? I don't want to get him set against me. I'm sure he wouldn't harm me for the world. I know I'm perfectly safe in my bed, Miss Leslie."
She swept him with a withering look of scorn, and hurried on without a word.
"I think your father should know what is being said. May I go home with you, and report the affair to him?"
"You really mean that, don't you? Of course I know that I am nearly a stranger and that I may seem to be pressing into purely family matters. But apart from my interest in anything that concerns Philip, I shall be glad on my own account if I can be of any help to you in a distressing situation."
"Thank you," she said gravely. And after a moment she added, with a whimsical air that was like her father's: "It would hardly be worth while for us to pretend to be strangers, after turning our skeleton-closet into a guest-chamber for you. You know all about us!"
Burton wasn't so sure of that. And he was even less assured after his half-hour conversation with the doctor, whom he found dressed, but certainly not wholly in his right mind.
"I have come to report the progress of the plot," said Burton. "I am glad to inform you that you are not suspected of having fired the Sprigg house with your own hand. Your sprained ankle served you well in that emergency. But your son Henry had no sprained ankle to protect him, so they have quite concluded that it was his doing."
Dr. Underwood looked at him thoughtfully, with no change of expression to indicate that the news was news to him.
"Was the fire incendiary?" he asked after a moment.
The doctor closed his eyes with his finger-tips and sat silent for a moment.
"There was wild talk, but of course there was nothing to justify an arrest,--no evidence."