, did he, master?«
    »Of course not,« replied the doctor, with a nervous glance at the two,
ladies. »I know his whole history: but we can talk about that presently. You
would like, first, to see the place where the thieves made their attempt, I
suppose?«
    »Certainly,« rejoined Mr. Blathers. »We had better inspect the premises
first, and examine the servants arterwards. That's the usual way of doing
business.«
    Lights were then procured; and Messrs. Blathers and Duff, attended by the
native constable, Brittles, Giles, and everybody else in short, went into the
little room at the end of the passage and looked out at the window; and
afterwards went round by way of the lawn, and looked in at the window; and after
that, had a candle handed out to inspect the shutter with; and after that, a
lantern to trace the footsteps with; and after that, a pitchfork to poke the
bushes with. This done, amidst the breathless interest of all beholders, they
came in again; and Mr. Giles and Brittles were put through a melodramatic
representation of their share in the previous night's adventures: which they
performed some six times over: contradicting each other, in not more than one
important respect, the first time, and in not more than a dozen the last. This
consummation being arrived at, Blathers and Duff cleared the room, and held a
long council together, compared with which, for secrecy and solemnity, a
consultation of great doctors on the knottiest point in medicine, would be mere
child's play.
    Meanwhile, the doctor walked up and down the next room in a very uneasy
state; and Mrs. Maylie and Rose looked on, with anxious faces.
    »Upon my word,« he said, making a halt, after a great number of very rapid
turns, »I hardly know what to do.«
    »Surely,« said Rose, »the poor child's story, faithfully repeated to these
men, will be sufficient to exonerate him.«
    »I doubt it, my dear young lady,« said the doctor, shaking his head. »I
don't think it would exonerate him, either with them, or with legal
functionaries of a higher grade. What is he, after all, they would say? A
run-away. Judged by mere worldly considerations and probabilities, his story is
a very doubtful one.«
    »You believe it, surely?« interrupted Rose.
    »
