"Well, I could produce the burglar in a pinch. He's reformed but he'd
undertake a little job like this if he know'd it was for partic'lar friends
of mine, and not a bit of 'arm in it. Is it a go?"
Mystery brooded over the house of Handsomebody all that afternoon and
evening. We were allowed to have no finger in this portentous pie.
Mr. Watlin, with some small assistance from Mary Ellen, engineered the
thing himself. We were sent to bed at the usual hour, and played at
burglars on, and under, the bed, to while away the intervening hours.