There probably _will_ be when he turns up, but there was none before!
If he wanted to run away, why would he burden himself with a supper
for twenty? Why--one minute!"
The front door opened and Mrs. Brown ran into the hall.
A well-known voice was heard speaking quickly and irritably.
"I jus' went away, that's all! I jus' thought of something I wanted to
do, that's all! Yes, I _did_ take the supper. I jus' wanted it for
something. It's a secret what I wanted it for, I----"
[Illustration: "WASN'T SHE A JOLLY LITTLE KID?" WILLIAM SAID
EAGERLY.]
"_William_!" said Mr. Brown.
Through the scenes that followed William preserved a dignified
silence, even to the point of refusing any explanation. Such
explanation as there was filtered through from Joan's mother by means
of the telephone.
"It was all William's idea," Joan's mother said plaintively. "Joan
would never have done _anything_ if William hadn't practically _made_
her. I expect she's caught her death of cold. She's in bed now----"
"Yes, so is William. I can't _think_ what they wanted to take _all_
the food for. And he was just a common man straight from prison. It's
dreadful. I do hope they haven't picked up any awful language. Have
you given Joan some quinine? Oh, Mrs. Murford's just rung up to see if
Sadie's cloak has turned up. Will you send it round? I feel so _upset_
by it all. If it wasn't Christmas Eve----"
The houses occupied by William's and Joan's families respectively were
semi-detached, but William's and Joan's bedroom windows faced each
other, and there was only about five yards between them.
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