“You didn’t notice if anything else in the house had been disturbed, I suppose?”

“I didn’t stop to look. It gave me such a turn seeing that thing there, I didn’t hardly know what I was doing.”

“Well, you’d better stay here until your son comes back,” said Mr. Ludgrove. “It is very nearly eleven now. I suppose you shut the door behind you when you came over here? How will Ted get in?”

“We both has our keys,” replied Mr. Copperdock. “Ted’s a good boy. I wouldn’t have minded so much if he’d been there.”

“Well, I’ll go to the door and watch for him,” said Mr. Ludgrove cheerfully. “You’ll be all right here, Mr. Copperdock.”