"That argument would simply slide off his back. You said he threatened you, and, from what I know of him, it's fairly certain that he swore at you. Is it likely he would threaten one moment, and give way the next? His young woman may have changed his vile nature--I hope she has--but you can't reform the stripes off a zebra. You found out something about him--you made him confess how he got hold of that money he wrote telling us about, and why he was clearing out of the country. He has defrauded the Yard estate, and Hunter helped him. The next thing we shall hear is that Hunter has gone to study the business habits and professional morals of the Esquimaux. Out with it, Nellie, or I shall suffer from a horrible suspicion that Percy has squared you." "I have spoken nothing but the truth, and you won't squeeze anything more out of me," she said. "When a fellow stays in lodgings," said George, "he must either read novels or go mad. I have been reading a quantity of novels, and they convinced me that women are deceitful beings." "They have to protect themselves against the perfidy of men," cried Nellie. "Remember poor innocent Adam! He was all right as long as he was engaged to Eve; but what happened when he married her?" "It's a shame that story was ever invented." "He wouldn't have eaten the apples; peaches and bananas were good enough for him," George continued. "But the serpent started it, and the serpent was the devil in disguise, and the devil is a fallen angel, and all angels, as you told me once, are gentlemen. So the male sex is the most deceitful after all." "Why can't you stick to the subject?" said George sourly. "Certainly," laughed Nellie. "This business about the furniture must be settled finally one way or the other. Are the Mudges to have anything, and, if not, how are they to be prevented from taking just what they want?" "Robert and Bessie are not to take a stick from the house, or a stone from the garden; and they must give back the things they have stolen," replied George. "Are those scraps of paper worth anything at all?" she demanded. "They are as useless as agreements between nations." "Then why don't you tell Kezia?" "Because the law is so slippery." "That means you are not certain." "I am quite positive; but how can I be responsible for judicial errors? Kezia may put her case into the hands of some shady lawyer--worse even than Hunter--and some stupid court may make a mistake in her favour. Kezia is going with you, so there will be no trouble with her while Aunt Sophy lives." "But it's not fair to keep her in ignorance." "It's supposed to be a state of bliss." "Oh, I can't argue with you. Will you answer one question properly?" "I'll try," said George. "How are we to rescue the furniture from the Mudges?" "If they don't know you are going to move, and have no suspicions," began George. "They have none," said Nellie. "And are not told." "They won't be." "Then you can leave it to me," said George.